their mutability by which they both leaue to bee what they haue beene and begin to bee what they haue neuer beene And this shifting out of one forme into another I suspected to bee caused by I know not what thing without form not by nothing at all yet this I was desirous to know not to suspect onely But if my voyce pen should here confesse all vnto thee whatsoeuer knots thou didst vnknâ—t for me in this questioÌ„ what Reader would haue so much patience to bee made conceiue it Nor shall my heart for all this cease at any time to giue thee honour and a Song of praise for all those things which it is not able to expresse For the changeable condition of changeble things is of it selfe capeable of all those forms into which these changable things are changed And this changeablenesse what is it Is it a soule or is it a body or is it any figure of a soule or body Might it be sayd properly that nothing were something and yet were not I would say This were it and yet was it both of these that so it might bee capeable of these visible and compounded figures CHAP. 7. Heauen is greater then Earth 1. BVt whence are both these but from thee from whom are all things so far forth as they haue being But how much the further off from thee so much the vnliker thee I doe not meane farrenesse of places Thou therefore O Lord who art not another in another place nor otherwise in another place but the same and the very same and the very selfe-same Holy Holy Holy Lord God almighty didst in the Beginning which is in thine owne selfe in thy Wisedome which was borne of thine owne Substance create something and that out of nothing 2. For thou createdst heauen and earth not out of thine owne selfe for so should they haue beene equall to thine onely Begotten Sonne and thereby vnto thine owne selfe too wheras no way iust it had beene that any thing should bee equall vnto thee which was not of thee Nor was there any thing besides thy selfe of which thou mightest create these things O God who art One in Trinity and Three in Vnity Therefore out of nothing hast thou created Heauen and Earth a great thing and a small thing for thou art omnipotent and good to make all things good euen the great heauen and the little earth Thou wert and nothing else was there besides out of which thou createdst Heauen and Earth two certaine things one neere thee the other neere to nothing One for thy selfe to bee superior vnto the other which nothing should bee inferiour vnto CHAP. 8. The Chaos was created out of nothing and out of that all things 1. BVt that Heauen of heauens which was for thy selfe Lord and this earth which thou gauest to the Sonnes of men to be seene and felt was not at first such as wee now both see and feele for it was inuisible and vnshapen and there was a deepe vpon which there was no light or darkenesse was vpon the deepe that is more then in the deepe Because this deepe of waters visible now adayes hath in his deepes a light proper for its nature perceiueable howeuer vnto the Fishes and creeping things in the bottome of it But all this whole was almost nothing because hitherto it was altogether without forme but yet there was now a matter that was apt to bee formed For thou Lord createdst the World of a matter without forme which being next to nothing thou madest out of nothing out of which thou mightest make those great workes which wee sonnes of men so much wonder at 2. For very wonderfull is this corporeall heauen which firmament betweene water and water the second day after the creation of light thou commandedst it to be made it was made Which Firmament thou calledst heauen the heauen that is to this earth and sea which thou createdst the third day by giuing a visible figure vnto the vnshapen matter which thou createdst before all dayes For euen already hadst thou created an heauen before all dayes but that was the Heauen of heauens because In the beginning thou createdst heauen and earth As for the earth which thou createdst it was an vnshapely matter because it was inuisible and without forme and darkenesse was vpon the deepe Of which inuisible earth and without forme of which vnshapelynes of which almost nothing thou mightest create all these of which this changeable world consists which continueth not the same but mutability it selfe appeares in it the times being easie to bee obserued and numbred in it For times are made by the alterations of things whilest namely their figures are varied and turned the matter whereof is this inuisible earth aforesayd CHAP. 9. What that Heauen of heauens is 1. THe Spirit therefore the Teacher of thy seruant whenas it recounts thee to haue in the beginning created heauen and earth speakes nothing of any times nor a word of any dayes For verily that Heauen of heauens which thou createdst in the beginning is some Intellectuall creature which although no waies coeternall vnto thee O Trinity yet being partaker of thy eternity doth through the sweetnesse of that most happy contemplation of thy selfe strongly restrayne its owne mutability and without any fall since its first creation cleauing close vnto thee hath set it selfe beyond all rowling interchange of times Yea neyther is this very vnshapelynesse of the inuisible earth and without forme once numbred among the dayes For where no figure nor order is there does nothing eyther come or goe and where this is not there playnely are no dayes nor any interchange of temporall spaces CHAP. 10. His desire to vnderstand the Scriptures 1. O Let truth the light of mine heart and not mine owne darkenesse now speake vnto me I fell off into that and became all be-darkned but yet euen for this euen vpon this occasion came I to loue thee I heard thy voyce behinde mee calling to mee to returne but scarcely could I discerne it for the noyse of my sinnes But see here I returne now sweating and panting after thy fountaine Let no man forbid me of this will I drinke and so shall I liue For I am not mine own life if I haue liued ill my death is farre from my selfe but t is in thee that I reuiue againe Speake thou vnto me discourse thou with mee I haue beleeued thy Bible but the words of it be most full of mystery CHAP. 11. What he learnt of God 1. NOw hast thou with a 〈…〉 voyce O Lord spoken in my inner care because thou art eternall that onely possessest immortality by reason that thou canst not be changed by any figure or motion nor is thy Will altered by times seeing no Will can be cald immortall which is now one and then another all this is in thy sight already cleare to me let it be more more cleared to me
ouer the fowles of the ayre and ouer all cattell and wilde beasts and ouer all the earth and ouer euery creeping thing that creepeth vpon the earth For this he exerciseth by the vnderstanding of his mind by the which he perceiueth the things of the Spirit of God whereas otherwise Man being in honor had no vnderstanding and is compared vnto the vnreasonable beasts and is become like vnto them In thy Church therefore O our God according to thy grace which thou hast bestowed vpon it for we are thy workmanship created vnto good workes are there not those onely who gouerne spiritually but they also which spiritually obey those that are ouer them for male and female hast thou made man euen this way too in the account of thy grace spirituall in which according to Sexe of body there is neyther male nor female because neyther Iew nor Grecian neyther bond nor free 2. Spirituall persons therefore whether such as gouerne or such as obey doe iudge spiritually not vpon those spirituall thoughts which shine in the Firmament for they ought not to passe their iudgement vpon so supreme authority for they may not censure thy Bible notwithstanding somthing in it shines not out clearely enough for we submit our vnderstanding vnto that hold for certain that euen that which is shut frō our eyes to be most rightly and truly spoken For so a man though he be Spirituall renewed vnto the knowledge of God after his Image that created him yet may hee no presume to be a Iudge of the law but a doer onely Neyther taketh hee vpon him to iudge of that distinction of Spirituall and carnall men not of those namely which are knowne vnto thine eyes O our God and haue not as yet discouered themselues vnto vs by any of their workes that by their fruits we might be able to know them but thou Lord doest euen now know them and hast already distinguisht them yea and called them in secret or euer the Firmament was created 3. Nor yet as he is spirituall doeth hee passe his censure vpon the vnquier people of this present world For what hath Ignorant hee to doe to iudge those that are without which of them is likely to come hereafter into the sweetnesse of thy grace and which likely to continue in the perpetuall bitternesse of vnbeliefe Man therefore whom thou hast made after thine own image hath not receiued dominion ouer the light of Heauen nor ouer the secrets of heauen it selfe nor ouer the day the night which thou calledst before the foundation of the world nor yet ouer the gathering together of the waters which is the Sea but he hath receiued dominion ouer the Fishes of the Sea and the Fowles of the ayre and ouer all Cattell and ouer all the Earth and ouer all creeping things which creepe vpon the Earth For hee iudgeth and approueth that which is right and he disalloweth what he findeth amisse be it eyther in the solemnity of that Sacrament by which such are admitted into the Church as thy mercy searches out among many waters Or in that other in which that Fish is receiued which once taken out of the Deepe the deuout earth now feedeth vpon or else in such expressions and sounds of words as are subiect to the authority of thy Bible like the Fowles as it were flying vnder the Firmament namely by interpreting expounding discoursing disputing consecrating or praying vnto thee with the mouth with expressions breaking forth and a lowd sounding that the people may answere Amen 4. For the vocall pronouncing of all which words the occasion growes from the darksome Deepe of this present world and from the blindnesse of flesh blood seeing that by bare conceiuing in the minde they cannot be perceiued so that necessary it is to speake loud vnto our eares This notwithstanding the flying Fowles be multiplyed vpon the earth yet they deriue their beginning from the Waters The Spirituall man iudgeth also by allowing of what is right and by disallowing what hee finds amisse in the workes and manners of the faythfull yea in their almes too which resemble the Earth bringing forth fruit and of the whole liuing Soule that hath tamed her owne affections by chastity by fasting and by holy meditations and of all those things too which are subiect to the sences of the body Vpon all these is hee now sayd to iudge and ouer all these hath hee absolute power of correction CHAP. 24. He allegorizes vpon Increase and multiply 1. BVt what is this now and what kinde of mystery Behold thou blessest mankind O Lord that they may increase and multiply and replenish the Earth doest thou not giue vs a priuie hint to learn somthing by why didst thou not aswell blesse the light which thou calledst day or the Firmament of heauen or the lights or the starres or the Earth or the Sea I might say O God that created vs after thine own Image I might say that it had beene thy good pleasure to haue bestowd this blessing peculiarly vpon man hadst thou not in likemaner blessed the Fishes and the Whales that they also should increase and multiplie and replenish the waters of the Sea and that the Fowles should be multiplyed vpon the Earth I might say likewise that this blessing pertayned properly vnto those creatures as are bred of their own kinde had I found it giuen to the Fruit-trees and Plants and Beasts of the earth But neyther vnto the Herbs nor the Trees nor the Beasts or Serpeuts is it sayd Increase and multiply notwithstanding that all these as well as the Fishes Fowles or Men do by generation both increase and continue their kinde 2. What then shall I say to it O thou Truth my light Shall I say that it was idly that it was vaynly sayd Not so O Father of piety farre be it from a Minister of thine owne Word to say so And notwithstanding I fully vnderstand not what that Phrase meaneth yet may others that are better that is more vnderstanding then my selfe make better vse of it according as thou O my God hast inabled euery man to vnderstand but let this cōfession of mine bee pleasing in thine eyes for that I confesse vnto thee O Lord how that I firmly beleeue thou speakest not that word in vaine nor will I conceale that which the occasion of reading this place hath put into my minde 3. For most true it is nor doe I see what should hinder mee from thus vnderstanding the figuratiue phrases of thy Bible For I know a thing to be manifoldly signified by corporeall expressions which the mind vnderstands all one way and another thing againe vnderstood many waies in the minde which is signified but one way by corporeall expression See for example the single loue of God our neyghbour in what a variety of mysteries and innumerable languages in each seuerall language in how innumerable phrases
our soules and that therefore it was perhaps that I feared to dye lest so he might wholy dye whom I extremely loued this seemeth rather alight kinde of Declamation then a serious Confession Though yet howsoeuer that impertinency besomewhat moderated by the addition of this word perhaps which then I vsed And that also which I sayd in the thirteenth book The firâ—â—ament was made betweene those superiour spirituall waters and these inferiour corporeall waters was not consider attuely enough expressed But the truth heereof is extremely hard to be discouered This worke beginneth thus Great art thou O Lord and highly worthy to be praysed SAINT AVGVSTINES Confessions THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. 1. 〈◊〉 admires Gods Majesty and is inflamed with a deepe desire of praising him GREAT art Thou O Lord and greatly to be praised great is thy power â—â— and thy wisedome is infinite And man who being a part of what thou hast created is desirous to praise thee this man bearing about his owne mortality with him carrying about him a testimony of his owne sinne even this testimony That God resisteth the proud yet this Man this part of what thou hasâ— created is desirous to praise thee thou so sweetly provokest him that he even delighteth to praiâ— thee For thou hast created uâ— for thy selfe and our heart can not be quieted till it may find repose in thee Grant me Lord to know and understand what ought first to doe whether caâ— upon thee or praise thee anâ— which ought to be first to know thee or to call upon thee 2. But who can rightly cal up thee that is yet ignorant of thee for such an one may in stead â— thee call upon another Or aâ— thou rather first called upon that thou mayest so come to bâ— knowne but how then shall they call on him in whom they have not beleeved and how â—hall they beleeve without a Preacher And againe They â—hall praise the Lord that seeke â—fter him For They that â—eeke shall finde and finding â—hey shall praise him Thee will seeke O Lord calling upon â—ee and I will call upon thee â—eleeving in thee for thou hast â—eene declared unto us My faith O Lord cals upon thee which â—ou hast given me which thou â—st inspired into me even by the â—â—â—anity of thy Sonne and by â—e ministery of thy Preacher CHAP. 2. Man hath his being from God â—and that God is in Man and Man in God ANd how shall I call upon my God my Lord and God because that when invoke him I call him into mâ— selfe and what place is there â—â— me fit for my God to come in to mee by whither God maâ— come into me even that Goâ— which made Heaven and Earth Is it so my Lord God is the any thing in me capable of theâ— Nay can both Heaven and eaâ— which thou hast made and which thou hast made me any wise containe thee 2. Or else because whatsoeâ—â—â— Is could not subsist withaâ—â— thee must it follow thereup that what soever hath being indued with a capability of thâ— since therefore I also am sonâ— what how doe I intreat theâ— come into me who could not unlesse thou wert first in â—â— For I am not now in Hell â— yet thou art there For if I â— downe into Hell thou art tâ— also I should therefore not O God yea I should have being at all unlesse thou wert in â—e or rather I could not one unlesse I had my being in 〈◊〉 â—f whom and through whom and to whom are all things Eâ—en so it is Lord even so Wherfore then doo I invoke thee â—eeing I am already in thee or whence canst thou come into â—e For whither shall I goe â—eyond heaven and earth that 〈◊〉 thence my God may come â—â— to me who hath said The heaâ—en and earth doe I fill CHAP. 3. â—od is wholly every where and is 〈◊〉 by parts contained by the Creature DOe therefore the Heaven and earth containe thee â—eing thou fillest them or doest â—ou fill them and there yet reâ—aines an overplus of thee beâ—ause they are not able to comprehend thee If so into what doest thou powre whatsoever remaineth of thee after heaven and earth are filled Hast thou need to be contained by something thou who containest all things seeing that what thou fillest by containing them thou fillest for those vessels which are full oâ— thee adde no stability to thee for were they broken thou aâ— not shed out and when thou aâ— shed out upon us thou art no spilt but thou raisest us up no art thou scattered but thou gatherest up us but thou who filâ— lest all with thy whole sell doest thou fill them all 2. Or because all things cannot containe all of thee doe the receive a part of thee and doe aâ— at once receive the same part oâ— thee or severall capacities severall parts and greater things greater parts and lesse lesser Is therfore one part of thee greater or another lesser or art thoâ— All every where and nothing containes thee wholly CHAP. 4. An admirable description of Gods Attributes 1. WHat art thou therefore O my GOD What but the Lord God For who is God but the Lord or who hath any strength besides our God Oh thou supreme most excellent most mighty most omnipotent most mercifull and most just most secret and most present most beautifull and most strong constant and incomprehensible immutable yet changing all things never new and never old renuing all things insensibly bringing proud men into decay ever active and ever quiet gathering together yet never wanting upholding filling and protecting creating nourishing and perfecting all things still seeking although thou standest in need â— nothing 2. Thoulovest yet art no transported art jealous but without feare thou doest repent but not grieve art angry but coole still Thy works thoâ— changest but not thy counsaile takest what thou findest never losest ought Thou art never needy yet glad of gaine never covetous yet exactest advantage Thou hast superabundance oâ— all things yet art still owing and who hath any thing which is noâ— thine Thou payest debts yeâ— owest nothing forgivest debts yet losest nothing And whaâ— shall we say my God my life my holy delight or what caâ— any man say when he speakes of â—â—e And woe to them that take nothing in thy praise seeing those that speake most are â—â— dumbe in it CHAP. 5. He prayes for forgivenesse of sinnes and the love of God VVHo shall so mediate for mee that I may repose in thee Who shall â—â—cure thee to enter into my â—â—rt and so to inebriate it that â—â—ay forget my own evils and â—â—brace thee my onely good â—hat art thou to me let mee â—de grace to speake to thee VVhat am I to Thee that â—ou shouldest command mee â—oue thee and be angry with â—â— yea and threaten mee with 〈◊〉 mischiefes unlesse I do love â—e Is it to be thought a small â—sery
twice longer then that For I demand Seing this is it which is called the day not the stay onely of the Sunne vpon the earth according to which account the day is one thing and the night another but its whole circuit that it runnes from East to East againe according to which account wee say There are so many dayes passed because that the dayes being reckoned with their nights are vsually called So many dayes and that the nights are not to be out of the reckoning Seeing therefore that a day is made complete by the motion of the Sunne and by his circuit from East to East againe I thereupon demaund whether it bee the motion that makes the day or the stay in which that motion is finished or both For if the first be the day then should wee haue a day of it although the Sunne should finish that course of his in so small a space of time as one houre comes to If the second then should not that make a day if betweene one Sun-rise and another there were but so short a stay as one houre comes to but the Sunne must goe foure and twenty times about for the making vp of one day If both then could not this neyther bee called a day if the Sunne should runne this whole round in the space of one houre no nor that if while the sunne stood still so much time should ouer passe as the Sun vsually makes his whole course in from morning to morning 3. I will not therefore demand now what that should bee which is called day but what Time should bee by which wee measuring the circuite of the Sunne should say that hee had then finisht it in halfe the time hee was wont to doe if so bee hee had gone it ouer in so small a space as twelue houres come to and when vpon comparing of both times together wee should say that this is but a single time and that a double time notwithstanding that the Sun should runne his round from east to east sometimes in that single time and other sometimes in that double time Let no man therefore say vnto mee hereafter That the motions of the celestiall bodies bee the Times because that when at the prayer of a certaine man the Sunne had stood still till hee could atchieue his victorious battell The Sunne stood still indeede but the time went on for in a certaine space of time of his owne enough to serue his turne was that battell strucken and gotten I perceiue time therefore to bee a certaine stretching But doe I perceiue it indeede or doe I but seeme to my selfe to perceiue it Thou O the Light and Truth shalt more clearely shew it me CHAP. 24. Time is it by which wee measure the motion of bodies 1. DOest thou command mee to allow of it if any man should define Time to bee the motion of a body No thou doest not bid mee For there is no body that I heare of moued but in time This thou sayest but that the motion of a body should bee time I neuer did heare nor doest thou say it For when a body is moued I by Time then measure How long it may haue moued from the instant it first beganne to moue vntill it left mouing And if so bee I did not see the instant it beganne in and if it continues to moue so long as I cannot see when it ends I am not then able to measure more of it but onely perchance from that instant I first saw it beginne vntill I my selfe leaue measuring And if I looke long vpon it I can onely signifie it to bee a long time but not how long because when wee pronounce how long wee must doe it by comparison as for example This is as long as that or this twice so long as that or the like But were wee able to make obseruation of the distances of those places whence and whither a body or his parts goe which is moued as if suppose it were moued in a Turne then might wee precisely say how much time the motion of that body or his part from this place vnto that was finished in 2. Seeing therefore the motion of a body is one thing and that by which we measure how long it is another thing who cannot now iudge which of the two is rather to bee called time For and if a body bee sometimes moued vncertainely and stands still other sometimes then doe we measure not his motion onely but his standing still too and wee say It stoode still as much as it moued or it stoode still twice or thrice so long as it moued or any other space which our measuring hath eyther perfectly taken or guessed at more or lesse as wee vse to say Time therefore is not the motion of a body CHAP. 25. He prayeth againe 1. NOw I confesse to thee O Lord that I yet know not what time is yea I confesse againe vnto thee O Lord that I know well enough how that I speake this in time and that hauing long spoken of time that very long is nothing else but a pawse of time How then come I to know this seeing I know not what time is or is my not knowing onely perchance a not hitting vpon the way of expressing what I know Woe is me that doe not so much as know what that is which I know not Behold O my God I protest before thee that I lye not but as my mouth speaketh so my heart thinketh Thou shalt light my candle O Lord O my God enlighten thou my darkenesse CHAP. 26. The measuring of the feete and syllables of a verse 1. DOes not my soule most truly confesse vnto thee that I doe measure times But doe I indeede measure them O my God and yet know not what I measure doe I measure the motion of a body in time and the time it selfe doe I not measure Or could I indeede measure the motion of a body how long it were and in how long space it could come from this place to that vnlesse I could withall measure the time in which it is moued This same very time therefore which way doe I measure it doe we by a shorter time proportion out the measure of a longer as by the space of a cubit wee doe the space of a longer beame for so indeed we seeme by the space of a short syllable to measure the space of a long syllable and to say that one is double to the other Thus measure wee the spaces of the Staues of a Poeme by the spaces of the verses and the spaces of the verses by the spaces of the feete and the spaces of the feete by the spaces of the syllables and the spaces of long syllables by the spaces of short syllables I do not meane measuring by the pages for that way wee should measure places not times but when in our pronouncing words passe away we say it is a long Stanza because it is composed of
there can in like manner any thing chance vnto thee that art vnchangeably Eternall that is the Eternall Creator of Soules Like as therefore thou in the beginning knewest the heauen and the earth without any variety of thy knowledge euen so didst thou in the beginning create heauen and earth without any distinction of thy action Let him that vnderstandeth it confesse vnto thee and let him that vnderstandeth it not confesse vnto thee also Oh how high art thou and yet the humble in heart are the house that thou dwellest in For thou vayself vvthose that are bowed down and neuer can they fall whose strength thou art Saint Augustines Confessions The twelfth Booke CHAP. 1. T is very difficult to finde out the truth MY heart O Lord toucht with the words of holy Scripture is busily imployed in this pouerty of my life And euen therefore in our discourse oftentimes appeares there a most plentifull pouerty of humane vnderstanding because that our enquiring spends vs more words then our finding out does and wee are longer about demanding then about obtayning and our hand that knocks hath more worke to doe then our other hand that receiues A promise haue wee layd holde of who shall defeate vs of it If God bee on our side who can bee against vs Aske and yee shall haue seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shall bee opened vnto you For euery one that askes receiues and he that seekes finds and to him that knocketh shall it be opened These be thine owne promises and who needes feare to bee deceiued whenas the Truth promiseth CHAP. 2. That the heauen we see is but earth in respect of the heauen of heauens which wee see not 1. VNto thy Highnesse the lowlynesse of my tongue now confesseth because thou hast made heauen and earth this heauen I meane which I see and this earth that I treade vpon whence is this earth that I beare about me Thou madest it But where is that Heauen of Heauens made for the Lord which wee heare of in the words of the Psalmist The heauen euen the heauens are the Lords but the earth hath he giuen to the children of men Where is that Heauen which we see not that in comparison whereof all this heauen which wee see is but meere earth For this heauen is wholy corporeall For all this which is wholy corporeall is not euery where beautifull alike in these lower parts the bottome wherof is this earth of ours but in comparison of that Heauen of heauens euen the heauen to this our earth is but earth yea both these great bodies may not absurdly bee called earth in comparison of that I know not what manner of heauen which is the Lords and not giuen to the Sonnes of men CHAP. 3. Of the darknesse vpon the face of the Deepe 1. AND now was this Earth without shape and voyde and there was I know not what profoundnesse of the Deepe vpon which there was no light because as yet it had no shape Therefore didst thou command it to bee written that darknesse was vpon the face of the deepe which what other thing was it then the Absence of light For if there had been light where should â—â— haue beene bestowed but in being ouer all by shewing it selfe and enlightening others Where therefore as light was not yet what was it that darkenesse was present but that light was absent Darknesse therefore was ouer all hitherto because light was absent like as where there is no found there is silence And what is it to haue silence there but to haue no sound there Hast not thou O Lord taught these things vnto the soule which thus confesses vnto thee Hast not thou taught mee Lord that before thou createdst diuersifyedst this vnshapen matter there was nothing neyther colour nor figure nor body nor Spirit and yet was there not altogether an absolute nothing for there was a certaine vnshapednes without any forme in it CHAP. 4. Of the Chaos and what Moses called it 1. ANd how should that be called and by what sence could it bee insinuated to people of slow apprehensions but by some ordinary word And what among all the parts of the world can be found to come neerer to an absolute vnshapednesse then the Earth and the deepe For surely they bee lesse beautifull in respect of their low situation then those other higher parts are which are all transparent and shining Wherefore then may I not conceiue the vnshapelynesse of the first matter which thou createdst without form of which thou wert to make this goodly world to bee significantly intimated vnto men by the name of Earth without shape and voyd CHAP. 5. That this Chaos is hard to conceiue 1. VVHen herein the thoughts of man are seeking for somewhat which the Sence may fasten vpon and returnes answere to it selfe It is no intelligible forme as life is or as Iustice is because it is the matter of bodies Nor is it any thing sensible for that in this earth inuisible as yet and without forme there was nothing to bee perceiued Whilest mans thoughts thus discourse vnto himselfe let him endeauour eyther to know it by being ignorant of it or to bee ignorant by knowing it CHAP. 6. What himselfe sometimes thought of it 1. FOr mine owne part O Lord if I may confesse all vnto thee both by tongue and pen what-euer thy selfe hast taught me of that matter the name whereof hauing heard before but not vnderstanding because they told me of it who themselues vnderstood it not I conceiued of it as hauing innumerable formes and diuerse and therefore indeede did I not at all conceiue it in my minde I tossed vp and downe certaine vgly and hideous formes all out of order but yet formes they were notwithstanding and this I cald without forme Not that it wanted all for me but because it had such a mis-shapen one insomuch as if any vnexpected thought or absurdity presented it selfe vnto mee my sence would straight wayes turne from it and the fraylenesse of my humane discourse would bee distracted And as for that which my conceite ranne vpon it was me thought without forme not for that it was depriued of all forme but it comparison of more beautifull formes but true reason did perswade me that I must vtterly vncase it of all remnants of formes whatsoeuer if so bee I meant to conceiue a matter absolute without forme but I could not For sooner would I haue imagined that not to bee at all which should be depriued of all forme then once conceiue there was likely to bee any thing betwixt forme and nothing a matter neyther formed nor nothing without forme almost nothing 2. My minde gaue ouer thereupon to question any more about it with my spirit which was wholy taken vp already with the images of formed bodies which I changed and varied as mee listed and I bent my enquiry vpon the bodies themselues and more deeply lookt into
now of that flying kind which at thy word the waters brought foorth Send thou thy word into it by thy Messengers for their labors indeede they are which we speake of but yet thou art he that worketh in them that they may worke a soule to haue life in it 2. The Earth brings forth that is the Earth is the cause that â— they worke this in the soule like as the Sea was the cause that they wrought vpon the mouing things that haue life in them as also vpon the fowles that flie in the open firmament of heauen of whome this Earth hath no neede although it seedes vpon that fish which was taken out of the deepe vpon that Table which thou hast prepared for the faythfull For therefore was He taken out of the Deepe that hee might feede the Dry land the Fowle though bred in the Sea is yet multiplyed vpon the Earth For of the first preachings of the Euangelists mans infidelity was the cause yet giue they good exhortations vnto the faythfull also yea and many wayes doe they blesse them from day to day But as for the liuing soule that tooke his beginning from the Earth for it profits not the faythfull vnlesse they can containe themselues from the loue of this world that so their soule many only liue vnto thee which was dead while it lined in pleasure in such pleasures Lord as bring death with them For t is thou O Lord that art the vitall delight of a pure heart 3. Now therefore let thy Ministers worke vpon this with i not as sometimes they did vpon the waters of Infidelity when they preached and spake by miracles and Sacraments and mysterious expressions when as Ignorance the mother of Admiration might giue good care â—o theÌ„ out of a reuerent feare it had towards those secret wonders For such is the entrance that is made vnto faith by the sonnes of Adam forgetfull of thee while they 〈◊〉 themselues from thee 〈◊〉 become a darksome deep But let thy Ministers worke â—ow as vpon dry land that is separated from the gulfes of the great deepe and let them 〈◊〉 patterne vnto the faithfull by liuing before them â—â— stirring the vp to imitation For thus are men to heare not with an intent to hearken only but to doe also Seeke the Lord and your soule shall liue That the Earth may bring forth the liuing soule Be not conformed to this world Containe your selues from it then shall your soules liue by auoyding it which dyed by affecting it 4. Contayne your selues from the immoderate wild humour of pride the litherly voluptuousnesse of lust and the false name of knowledge that so the wilde beasts may be tamed the cattell made tractable and the Serpents harmelesse For these bee the motions of our minde vnder an Allegory that is to say the haughtynesse of pride the delight of lust and the poyson of curiosity these be the motions of a dead soule For the soule dyes not so vtterly as that it wants all motion because it dying by departing from the fountayne of life is there upon taken vp by this transitory world and is conâ—â—â—ed vnto it But thy word O God is the fountaine of eternall life and that neuer calleth away wherefore this departure of the Soule is restrayned by thy word when 〈◊〉 sayd vnto vs Be not conformed vnto this world that so the Earth may in the fountyne of life bring forth a 〈◊〉 soule that is a soule 〈◊〉 continent by vertue of 〈◊〉 Word deliuered by thy 〈◊〉 and by followâ—â—â— the followers of Christ 〈◊〉 is indeede to liue after 〈…〉 because the emution a man takes is from â—â— friend Be yee sayth he â— am for I am as you are 〈◊〉 in this liuing soule shall 〈◊〉 be good beasts meeke 〈◊〉 actions For thou 〈◊〉 commanded Goe on with thy businesse in meekenesse so shalt thou be beloued of all men And there shall be good cattell in it too which neither of they eate much shall haue nothing ouer nor if they eate little any lacke and good Serpents not dangerous to doe hurt but wise to take heed such as will make such a search into this temporall nature as may bee sufficient that Gods eternity may be cleerly seene being vnderstood by the things that are made For these Creatures are then obedient vnto Reason when being once restrayned from their deadly preuayling vpon vs they liue and become good CHAP. 22. Of Regeneration by the Spirit He allegorizes vpon the Creation of man 1. FOr behold O Lord our God our Creatour soone as euer our affectioÌ„s are restrayned from the loue of the world by which we died through our euill-liuing and began to bee a liuing soule through our good liuing and that the word which thou hast spoken be thy Apostle shal be made good in vs Be not conformed to this world that next followes vpon it which thou presently subioynedst saying But be ye transformed by the renuing of your mind not as liuing now after your kind as if you followed your neighbour next before you nor yet as liuing after the example of some better man for thou didst not say Let man be made after his kinde but Lei vs make man after our own Image and similitude that we might proue what thy will is For to this purpose sayd that dispencer of thine who begets Children by the Gospell that hee might not euer haue them babes whom hee must bee sayne to feede with milke and bring vp like a nurse Be ye transformed sayth he by the renewing of your mind that ye may proue what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God Wherefore thou sayest not Let man he made but Let vs make man Nor saydst thou According to his kind but After our own Image likenesse For man being renewed in his minde and able to discerne and vnderstand thy truth needs no more any direction of man to follow after his kind but by thy shewing doth hee proue what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of thine yea thou teachest him that is now made capeable to discerne the Trinity of the Unity and the Vnity of the Trinity Whereas therefore it was spoken in the plurall number Let vs make man vet is it presently inferred in the singular And God made man and whereas t is sayd in the plurall number After our owne likenesse yet is inferred in the singular After the Image of God Thus is man renewed vnto the knowledge of God after the Image of him that created him and being made Spirituall he now iudges all things those namely that are to bee iudged yet hee himselfe is iudged of no man CHAP. 23 Of what things a Christian may iudge He allegorizes vpon mans dominion ouer the creatures THat hee now iudgeth all things this is the meaning That he hath dominion ouer the fish of the Sea and
very unseemely thing to beleeve thee to have the shape of our humane flesh and to be girt up in the bodily lineaments of our members And because that when I had a desire to meditate upon God I knew not how to thinke of him but as of a Bulke of bodies for that seemed to me not to bee any thing which was not such this was the greatest and almost the onely cause of my inevitable misprision 4. For hence it was that I beleeved Evill to have been a kind of substance and had a bulke of earth belonging to it either deformed and grosse which they called Earth or else thinne and subtile like the body of the Ayie which they imagine to be some ill-natured mind gliding thorow that Earth And for that I know not what not ill-minded piety constrained me to beleeve that the good God never created any evill nature I supposed two Bulkes contrary to one another both infinite but the Evill to be lesser and the Good larger and out of this pestilent foundation other sacrilegious conceipts followed upon me For when my minde endevoured to have recourse backe unto the Catholike faith I was still stav'd off againe for that that indeed was not the Catholike faith which I beleeved to have beene And I seemed more reverently opinioned if I should have beleeved thee O my God to whom thy mercies wrought in me doe now confesse to bee infinite in other parts although on that side by which Evill was set in opposition unto thee I was constrained to confesse thee to be finite than if in all parts I should imagine thee to be finitely concluded within the shape of an humane body 5. And it seemed safer for me to beleeve thee to have never created any evill which to ignorant me seemed not some substance onely but to be corporeall also and for that I could not hit to thinke of any spirituall minde unlesse it should be a subtle body and that diffused too by locall spaces than to beleeve any thing could come from thee of that condition which I imagined the nature of Evill to be Yea and our blessed Saviour himselfe thy onely begotten Sonne reached as it were for our Salvation out of the most bright masse of thy Substance I so thought of as that I beleeved no other thing of him than that I was able to imagine by mine own vaine fancie Such a nature therefore I thought could never bee borne of the Virgin Mary unlesse it were incorporated into her flesh and how that which I had on this fashion figured out to my selfe should bee incorporated and not therewithall defiled I saw not I feared therefore to beleeve Christ to be borne in the flesh lest I should be inforced also to beleeve that he was defiled by the flesh Now will thy spirituall children in a mild and loving manner laugh at me when they shall reade these my Confessions But such a man I then was CHAP. 11. How bee compared the Manichees Tenents with the Catholikes 1. FVrthermore what-ever these Manichees had found fault withall in thy Scriptures I thought not possible to be detended but yet verily had I a good will now and then to confer upon these severall points with some man that were best skilled in those bookes and to make experience what hee thought of the matter For the speech of one Helpidius speaking and disputing face to face against the said Manichees had already begun to stirre me even whilst I was at Carthage when namely he produced such Texts out of the Scriptures which were not easily to bee withstood and that the Manichees Answer seemed but very weake unto me 2. which Answer they would not willingly be drawne to deliver in publike hearing but amongst our selves onely in private namely when as they said that the Scriptures of the New Testament had beene corrupted by I know not whom who were desirous to insert the Law of the Iewes into the Christian Faith whereas themselves all this while brought not out any Copies that had not beene so corrupted But me strongly captivated and stifled as it were with beating my thoughts about these corporeall phantasies did these bulkes keep downe under which struggling for the breath of thy truth I was not able to take it in pure and untainted CHAP. 12. The cunning tricks put at Rome by Schollers upon their Masters 1. DIligently therefore began I to put in practice that for which I came to Rome that is to teach Rhetoricke And first of all to draw some to my Lodging to whom and through whose meanes I beganne to bee made knowne abroad when as behold I came to know how that other misdemeanours were committed in Rome which I could not indure in Africke For those OVERTVRNINGS 't is true committed by desperate yong fellowes were not here practised as it was plainely told me but yet said they to avoid payment of their Masters stipend divers yong Schollers plot together and all on the sudden to avoid due payment to their Masters these promise-breakers who for the love of money make no account of just dealing remove themselves to another These sharking companions my heart hated also though not with a perfect hatred For I more hated them perchance for that my selfe was to suffer by them than for that they plaid such dishonest pranks with every man 2. Such verily bee but base fellowes and they play false with thee in loving these fleeting mockeries of the Times and in griping after this dirty gaine which when it is got hold of bemyres the hand and in embracing this sleeing World and in despising thee who abidest ever and who callest backe and grantest pardon to mans adulterated soule that returnes unto thee And now I much hated such wicked and perverse natures though I could well love them were they to bee amended and that they would once preferre Learning before their Money and above their Learning esteeme of thee O GOD the Truth and fulnesse of all assured good and the most chast peace But I was even for mine owne sake more unwilling in those dayes to beare with those that dealt ill with me than desirous that they should at last become good for thy sake CHAP. 13. He goes to Millan to teach Rhetoricke and how S. Ambrose there entertaines him 1. VVHen therefore they of Millan had sent to Rome to the Praefect of the Citie desiring to bee furnished thence with a Rhetoricke-Master for their Citie taking order also for the accommodating him in his journey upon the publike charges I put on to stand for the place and that by meanes of those very Manichees drunken with vanities to be rid of whom I purposely went away yet did neither of us know certainely whether upon my making a publike Oration for the Place Symmachus then Praefect of the Citie would so farre approve of me as to send me thither Well unto Milan I came to Bishop Ambrose a man of the best fame all
much said shee to me But to thee O Fountaine of mercies powred shee forth more frequent prayers teares that thou wouldest hasten thy helpe and enlighten my darknesse that I might more studiously runne unto the Church and settle my beleefe vpon Ambrose his Preaching and desire the Fountaine of that Water which springeth up into Life ever lasting For that man shee loved as an Angell of GOD because shee presumed most assuredly that I had beene brought by him in the meane time to that doubtfull state of faith I was now in by which I was to passe from sicknesse unto health some sharper conflict comming betweene in another Fit as it were which the Physicians call The Crisis CHAP. 2. His Mother is turned from her Countrey Superstition 1. VVHen as my Mother therefore had one time brought unto the Oratories erected in memory of the Saints as she was wont to doe in Africke certaine Cheese-cakes and Bread and VVine and had beene forbidden to doe it by the Sexton so soone as ever she knew that the Bishop had forbidden this shee did so piously and obediently embrace the motion that I my selfe wondred at it that she should so easily be brought rather to blame her owne Countrey custome than to call the present countermand in question For Wine-bibbing besotted not her spirit nor did the love of Wine provoke her to the hatred of the Truth as it doth too many both men and women who being a little whittled once turne the stomacke to a song of sobriety as they would doe at a draught of water But she when she had brought her basket of these solemne lunkets which she meant to eat a little of first and to give the rest away never used to allow herselfe above one small pot of Wine well allayed with water for her owne sober palate whence she would sippe a mannerly draught And if there were any more Oratories of the departed Saints that seemed to be honoured in like maner shee still carried the selfe-same pot about with her which she used every where which should not onely below allayed with water but very lukewarme with carrying about and this would shee distribute to those that were about her by small sups for she came to those places to seeke devotion and not pleasure 2. So soone therefore as shee found this custome to be countermanded by that famous Preacher and the most pious Prelate Ambrose yea forbidden even to those that would use it but soberly that so no occasion of ryot might thereby bee given to such as loved drinking too well and for that these funerall Anniversary Feasts as it were in honour of our dead Fathers did too neerely resemble the superstition of the Gentiles she most willingly forbare it ever after and in stead of a Basket filled with the fruits of the earth she now had learned to present a breast replenished with sinne-purging petitions at the Oratories of the Martyrs and to give away what shee could spare among the poore that so the Cōmunion of the Lords Body might in that place bee rightly celebrated where after the example of his Passion these Martyrs had bin sacrificed and crowned 3. But for all this it seemes to me O Lord my God and thus thinks my heart of it in thy sight That my Mother would not so easily have give way to the breaking of her Countrey custome had it bin forbidden her by some other man whom she had not loved so well as she did Ambrose who in regard of my salvation she very entirely affected and he bergaing as well for her most religious conversation whereby s◠full of good workes so servent in the spirit she frequented the Church Yea so well he affected 〈◊〉 that hee would very often when he saw mee breake forth into her praises congratulating with me in that I had such a Mother little knowing in the meane time what a sonne she had of me who doubted of all these things and least of all imagined the way to life could possibly be found out CHAP. 3. The employments and studies of S. Ambrose 1. NOr did I hitherto grone in my prayers that thou wouldest helpe me but my unquiet minde was altogether intentive to seeke for Learning and to dispute upon it As for Ambrose himselfe I esteemed him a very happy man according to the world whom personages of such authority so much honoured onely his remaining a 〈◊〉 seemed a painefull course unto mee But what hopes hee carried about him against the temptations his excellent parts were subject unto what struglings he felt and what comfort hee found in his adversities and how savourie joyes that mouth hidden in his heart fed upon in thy Bread I neither knew how to ghesse at nor had I yet any feeling of As little on the other side knew hee of my privie heats nor of the pit of my danger For I had not the opportunity to make my demands to him what I would or how I would for that multitudes of people full of businesse whose infirmities hee gave up himselfe unto debarred me both from hearing and speaking with him With whom when he was not taken up which was but a little time together hee either refreshed his body with necessary sustenance or his minde with reading But when he was reading hee drew his eyes along over the leaves and his heart searcht into the sense but his voice and tongue were altogether silent 2. Oft-times when we were present for no man was debarred of comming to him nor was it his fashion to be told of any body that came to speake with him we still saw him reading to himselfe and never otherwise so that having long sate in silence for who durst be so bold as to interrupt him so intentive to his study wee were faine to depart We conjectured that the small time which he gate for the repairing of his minde hee retyred himselfe from the clamour of other mens businesses being unwilling to be taken off for any other imployment and he was warie perchance too left some hearer being strucke into suspence and eager upon it if the Author he read should deliver any thing obscurely hee should be put to it to expound it or to discusse some of the harder questions so that spending away his time about this worke hee could not turne over so many Volumes as he desired although peradventure the preserving of his voice which a little speaking would weaken might bee a just reason for his reading to himselfe But with what intent soever he did it that man certainely had a good meaning in it 3. But verily no opportunity could I obtaine of propounding my demands as I desired to that so holy an Oracle of thine his breast unlesse the thing might be heard very briefly But those commorions in me required to finde him at his best leasure that I might powre them out before him but never could they finde him so Yet heard
in respect of the hidden deservings of the soules thou thinkest fit for him to heare To whom let not man say What is this or Why is that Let him not say so never let him ask such a questioÌ„ seeing he is but a man CHAP. 7. He is miserably tortured in his enquirie after the Root of Evill 1. ANd now O my helper hadst thou discharged me from those fetters and presently enquired I whence Evill should be but found no way out of my question But thou sufferedst me not to be carried away from the Faith by any waves of those thoughts by which Faith I beleeved both that thou wert and that thy substance was unchangeable and that thou hadst a care of and passedst thy judgement upon men and that in Christ thy Sonne our Lord and thy holy Scriptures which the Authority of thy Church should acknowledge thou hast laid out the way of mans salvation to passe to that life which is to come after death These grounds remaining safe and irremoveably settled in my minde I with much anxiety sought from what root the nature of Evill should proceed What torments did my teeming heart then endure and what throwes O my God! yet even to them were thine eares open and I knew it not and when in silence I so vehemently enquired after it those silent conditions of my soule were strong cryes unto thy mercy 2. Thou and not man knewest how much I suffered For how great was that which my tongue sent forth into the eares of my most familiar friends And yet did I disclose the whole tumule of my soule for which neither my time nor tongue had beene sufficient Yet did all of it ascend into thy hearing which I roared out from the grones of my heart yea my whole desires were said up before thee nor was I master of so much as of the light of mine owne eyes for that was all turn'd inward but I outward nor was that confined to any place but I bent my selfe to those things that are contained in places but there found I no place to rest in nor did those places so entertain mee that I could say It is enough and 't is well nor did they yet suffer me to turne back where I might finde well-being enough For to these things was I superiour but inferiour to thee and thou art that true joy of me thy Subject and thou hast subjected under mee those things which thou createdst below me 3. And this was the true temper and the middle Region of my safety where I might remaine conformable to thine Image and by serving thee get the dominion over mine owne body But when as I rose up proudly against thee and when I ran upon my Lord with my necke with the thick bosses of my buckler then were these inferiour things made my over-matches and kept me under nor could I get either releasement or space of breathing They ran on all sides by heapes and troopes upon mee broad-looking on them but having in my thoghts these corporeall Images they way-laid me as I turn'd backe 〈◊〉 they should say unto mee Whither goest thou O thou unworthy and base creature And these grew more in number even out of my wound for thou hast humbled the proud like as him that is wounded through my owne swelling was I set further off from thee yea my cheekes too big swolne even blinded up mine eyes CHAP. 8. How the mercy of God at length relieved him 1. THou Lord art the same for ever nor art thou angry with us for ever because thou hast pitie upon dust and ashes and it was pleasing in thy sight to reforme my deformities and by inward gallingsdidst thou startle me that I shouldst become unquiet till such time as it might bee assured unto my inward sight that it was thou thy selfe Thus by the secret hand of thy medicining was my swelling abated and that troubled and bedimmed eyesight of my soule by the smart eye-salve of mine owne wholsome dolours daily began more and more to be cleered CHAP. 9. What he found in some Bookes of the Platonists agreeable to the Christian Doctrine 1. AND thou being desirous first of all to shew unto me how thou resistest the proud but givest grace unto the humble and with what great mercy of thine the way of humility is traced out unto men in that thy WORD was made flesh and dwelt among men thou procuredst for mee by meanes of a certaine man puft up with a most unreasonable pride to see certaine Bookes of the Platonists translated out of Greeke into Latine And therein I read not indeed in the selfe same words but to the very same purpose perswaded by many reasons and of severall kinds That In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made In him was life and the life was the light of men And the light shined in the darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not And for that the soule of man though it gives testimony of the light yet it selfe is not that light but the Word of God is for God is that true light that lighteth every man that commeth into the world And because he was in the world and the world was made by him the world knew him not and because hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not But as many as received him to them gave hee power to become the sons of God as many as beleeved in his name All this did I not read there 2. There again did I read that God the Word was not borne of flesh nor of blood nor of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh but of God But that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us did I not there reade I found out in those Bookes that it was many and divers waies said that the Sonne being in the forme of the Father thought it no robbery to be equal with God for that naturally he was the same with him But that 〈◊〉 himselfe of no reputaâ—â—â— taking upon him the forme â—â— a servant and was made in 〈◊〉 likenesse of men and was sound in fashion as a man and humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God hath highty exalted him from the dead and given him a name over every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And that every tongue should confesse that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father those Bookes have not 3. But that thy onely begotten Sonne coeternall with thee war before all times and beyond all times remains unchangeable and that of his fulnesse all soules receive what makes theÌ„ blessed and that by participation
bee some corruptible substance which unlesse it were some way or other good it could not be corrupted I perceived therefore and it was made plaine unto me that all things are good which thou hast made nor is there any substance at all which thou hast not made And for that all which thou hast made are not equall therefore are they all good in generall because all good in particular and all together very good because thou our God hast made all things very good CHAP. 13. All created things praise God 1. ANd to thee is there nothing at all evill yea not onely in respect of thee but also not in respect of thy Creatures in generall because there is not any thing which is without thee which hath power to breake in or discompose that Order which thou hast settled But in some particulars of thy Creatures for that some things there bee which so well agree not with some other things they are conceived to be evill whereas those very things sute well enough with some other things and are good yea and in themselves good And all these things which doe not mutually agree one with another doe yet sute well enough with this inferiour part which we cal Earth which hath such a cloudy and windie Region of Ayre hanging over it as is in nature agreeable to it 2. God forbid now that I should ever say that there were no other things extant besides these for should I see nothing but these verily I should went the better And yet even onely for these ought I praise thee 〈◊〉 that thou art to be praised 〈◊〉 things of the 〈◊〉 doe 〈◊〉 Dragons and all 〈…〉 Haile Snow â—ee and 〈◊〉 Wind which fulful thy 〈◊〉 Mountaines and all 〈◊〉 fruitfull Trees and all Cedars Beasts and all Cattell creeping things and flying Fowles Kings of the Earth and all people Princes and all Iudges of the Land Yong men and Maidens Old men and Children let them praise thy Name Seeing also these in heaven praise thee let them praise thee O our God in the heights Let all thy Angels praise thee and all thy Hosts Sunne and Moone all the Starres and Light the Heaven of Heavens and the Waters that be above the Heavens let them praise thy Name I did not now desire better because I had now thought upon them all and that those superior things were better than these inferior things but yet all together better than those superiour by themselves I resolved upon in my bettered judgement CHAP. 14. To a sober minde none of Gods Creatures are displeasing 1. THey are not well in their wits to whom any thing which thou hast created is displeasing no more than I my selfe was when as many things which thou hadst made did not like me And because my soule durst not take distaste at my God it would not suffer that ought should bee accounted thine which displeased it Hence fell it upon the opinion of two substances and no rest did it take but talkt idlie And turning from thence it fancied a God to it selfe which tooke up infinite measures of all places and him did it thinke to be thee and him it placed in its heart so that it became once againe the Temple of its own Idoll which was to thee so abominable But after thou hadst refreshed my head I not knowing of it and hadst shut up mine eyes that they should no more behold vanity I began to bee quieted a little within my selfe and my mad Fit was got asleepe out of which I awaked in thee and then discerned thee to be infinite another manner of way But this sight was not derived from any power of my flesh CHAP. 15. How there is truth and falshood in the Creatures 1. ANd I looked after this upon other things and I saw how they owed their being to thee and that all finite things are in thee but in a different manner not as in their proper place but because thou containest all things in thine hand of truth All things are true so farre forth as they have a being nor is there any falshood unlesse when a thing is thought to bee which is not And I marked how that all things did agree respectively not to their places onely but to their seasons also And that thou who onely art eternall didst not beginne to worke after innumerable spaces of times spent for that all spaces of times both those which are passed already and those which are to passe hereafter should neither goe nor come but by thee who art still working and still remaining CHAP. 16. All things are good though to some things not fit 1. ANd I both found and tryed it to bee no wonder that the same bread is lothsome to a distempered palate which is pleasant to a sound one and that to sore eyes that light is offensive which to the cleere is delightfull and that thy Iustice gives disgust unto the wicked yet not so much but the Viper and smallest vermine which thou hast created good but are fit enough to these inferiour portions of thy Creatures to which these very wicked are also fit and that so much the more fit by how much they be unlike thee but so much liker the superiour Creatures by how neerer resembling thee And I enquired what this same Iniquity should be But I found it not to bee a substance but a swarving meerely of the will crookt quite away from thee O God who art the supreme substance towards these lower things which casts abroad its inward corruption and swels outwardly CHAP. 17. What things hinder us of Gods knowledge 1. AND I wondred not a little that I was now come to love thee and no Phantasme instead of thee nor did I delay to enjoy my God but was ravisht to thee by thine owne beauty and yet by and by I violently fell off againe even by mine owne weight rushing with sorrow enough upon these inferiour things This weight I spake of was my old fleshly customes Yet had I still a remembrance of thee nor did I any way doubt that thou wert he to whom I ought to cleave but yet I was not the partie fit to cleave unto thee for that the body which is corrupted presseth downe the soule and the earthly tabernable weigheth downe the minde that museth upon many things And most certaine I was that thy invisible workes from the creation of the world are cleerely seene being understood by the things that are made even thy eternall power and Godhead 2. For studying now by what reasons to make good the beauty of corporeall things eyther celestiall or terrestriall and what proofe I had at hand solidly to passe sentence upon these mutable things in pronouncing This ought to be thus and this must be so plodding I say on this upon what ground namely I ought to judge seeing I did thus judge I had by this time found the unchangeable and true eternity of truth residing upon this
forth those devout hands of hers so full of the multitudes of good examples both to receive and to embrace me There were in company with her very many both Yongmen and Maidens a multitude of youth of all ages both grave widdowes and ancient Virgins and Continence her selfe in the middest of them all not barren altogether but a happy Mother of Children of Ioyes by thee her husband O Lord. And shee was pleasant with me with a kinde of exhorting quip as if she should have said Canst not thou performe what these of both sexes have performed or can any of these performe thus much of themselves or rather by the Lord their GOD The Lord their God gave me unto them Why standest thou upon thine owne strength and standest not at all Cast thy selfe upon Him feare not Hee will not slippe away and make thee fall Cast thyselfe securely upon Him He will receive thee and Hee will heale thee I blusht all this while to my selfe very much for that I yet heard the muttering of those toyes and that I yet hung in suspence Whereunto Continence againe replyed Stop thine eares against those uncleane members of thine which are upon the earth that they may bee mortified They tell thee of delights indeed but not such as the law of the Lord thy God tels thee of This was the controversie I felt in my heart about nothing but my selfe against my selfe But Alipius sitting by my side in silence expected the issue of my unaccustomed sullevation CHAP. 12. How hee was converted by a Voyce 1. SO soone therefore as a deepe consideration even from the secret bottome of my soule had drawne together and laid all my misery upon one heape before the eyes of my heart there rose up a mighty storme bringing as mighty a showre of teares with it which that I might powre forth with such expressions as suted best with them I rose from Alipius for I conceived that solitarinesse was more fit for a businesse of weeping So farre off then I went as that his presence might not be troublesome unto mee Thus disposed was I at that time and he thought I know not what of it something I beleeve I had said before which discovered the sound of my voyce to be bigge with weeping and in that case I rose from him He thereupon staid alone where wee sate together most extremely astonished I slung downe my selfe I know not how under a certaine Fig-tree giving all liberty to my teares whereupon the floods of mine eyes gushed out an acceptable acceptable sacrifice to thee O Lord. And though not perchance in these very words yet much to this purpose said I unto thee And thou O LORD how long how long Lord wilt thou bee angry for ever Remember not our former iniquities for I found my selfe to be still enthralled by them Yea I sent up these miserable exclamations How long how long still to morrow and to morrow Why not now wherefore even this very houre is there not an end put to my uncleannesse 2. Thus much I uttered weeping among in the most bitter contrition of my heart when as behold I heard a voyce from some neighbour house as it had beene of a Boy or Girle I know not whether in a singing tune saying and often repeating TAKE VP AND READE TAKE VP AND READE Instantly changing my countenance thereupon I beganne very heedfully to bethinke my selfe whether children were wont in any kinde of playing to sing any such words nor could I remember my selfe ever to have heard the like Whereupon refraining the violent torrent of my teares up I gat mee interpreting it no other way but that I was from God himselfe commanded To open the booke and to read that Chapter which I should first light upon For I had heard of Anthony that by hearing of the Gospell which he once came to the reading of he tooke himselfe to be admonished as if what was read had purposely beene spoken unto him Goe and sell that thou hast and give to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow mee And by such a miracle was hee presently converted unto thee 3. Hastily therefore went I againe to that place where Alipius was sitting for there had I laid the Apostles Booke when as I rose from thence I snatcht it up I opened it and in silence I read that Chapter which I first cast mine eyes upon Not in rioting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof No further would I reade nor needed I For instantly even with the end of this sentence by a light as it were of security now datted into my heart all the darkenesse of doubting vanished away Shutting up the booke thereupon and putting my finger betweene or I know not what other marke with a well quieted countenance I discovered all this unto Alipius 4. And he againe in this manner revealed unto me what also was wrought in his heart which I verily knew nothing of Hee requested to see what I had read I shewed him the place and he lookt further than I had read nor knew I what followed This followed Him that is weake in the Faith receive which hee applyed to himselfe and shewed it me And by this admonition was he strengthened and unto that good resolution and purpose which was most agreeable to his disposition wherein he did alwaies very far differ from mee to the better without all turbulent delaying did he now apply himselfe From thence went we into the house unto my mother we discover our selves she rejoyces for it we declare in order how every thing was done she leapes for joy and triumpheth and blesseth thee who art able to doe above that which wee aske or thinke For that she perceived thee to have given her more concerning me than she was wont to beg by her pittifull and most dolefull groanings For so throughly thou convertedst me unto thy selfe as that I sought now no more after a Wife nor any other hopes in this world thus being setled in the same rule and line of Faith in which thou hadst shewed me unto her in a vision so many yeeres before Thus didst thou convert her mourning into rejoycing and that much more plentifully than she had desired and that much more dearely and a chaster way than she erst required namely if shee had received Grandchildren of my body SAINT AVGVSTINES Confessions THE NINTH BOOKE CHAP. 1. Hee praiseth Gods goodnesse and acknowledgeth his owne wretchednesse O Lord truely I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast broken my bonds in sunder I will offer to thee the sacrifice of praise Let my heart praise thee and my tongue yea let all my bones say O Lord who is like unto thee Let them say and
already passed beyond such parts of it as are common to mee with the beasts whilest I called thee to mind for as much as I found not thee there amongst the Images of corporeall things I proceeded to these parts of it whither I had recommended the Affections of my mind nor could I finde thee there Yea I passed further into it euen to the very seate of the minde it selfe which is there in my memory as appeares by the mindes remembring of it selfe neyther wert thou there for that as thou art not eyther any corporeal image no more art thou any Affection of a liuing man like as when wee reioyce condole desire feare remember forget or whatsoeuer else we doe of the like kinde No nor yet art thou the minde it selfe because thou art the Lord God of the minde Moreouer all these are changed whereas thou remaynest vnchangeable ouer all who yet vouchsafest to dwell in my memory euen since that first time that I learnt to know thee But why seeke I now in what particular place of my memory thou dwellest as if there were any places at all in it Sure I am that in it thou dwellest euen for this reason that I haue preserued the memory of thee since the time that I first learnt thee and for that I finde thee in my memory whensoeuer I call thee to remembrance CHAP. 26. Whereabouts God is to bee found 1. VVHere then did I finde thee that I might learne thee For in my memory thou wert not before I learn'd thee In what place therefore did I find thee that so I might learne thee but euen in thine owne selfe farre aboue my selfe Place there is none wee goe backward and forward but particular place there is none to containe thee Euery where O truth art thou President of the Councell to those that aske Counsell of thee and at one dispatch doest thou answere all yea though they aske thy counsell vpon diuers matters Clearely doest thou answere them though all doe not clearely vnderstand thee All may aduise with thee about what they will though they alwayes heare not such answer as they desired Hee is thy best seruant that lookes not so much to heart that from thee which himselfe desireth as hee that is willing with that rather which from thee hee heareth CHAP. 27. How God drawes vs to himselfe 1. TOO late beganne I to loue thee O thou beatty both so ancient and so fresh yea too too late came I to loue thee For behold thoâ— wert within mee and I out oâ— my selfe where I made search for thee deformed I wooing these beautifull pieces of thâ— workmanship Thou indeede wert with me but I was not with thee these beauties kept mee farre enough from thee euen those which vnlesse they had their Being in thee should not be at all Thou calledst and criedst vnto mee yea thou euen brakest open my deafenesse Thou discoueredst thy beames and shynedst out vnto mee and didst chase away my blindnesse Thou didst most fragrantly blow vpon me and I drew in my breath and panted after thee I tasted thee and now doe bunger and thirst after thee Thou didst touch mee and I euen burne againe to enioy peace thy CHAP. 28. The misery of this life 1. VVHen I shall once attaine to be vnited vnto thee in euery part of me then shall I no more feele eyther sorrow or labour yea then shall my life truely bee aliue euery way full of thee Whereas now verily for that whom thou fillest thou also raysest am I a burthen vnto my selfe because I am not full of thee The ioyes of this my life which deserue to bee lamented are at strife with my sorrowes which are to bee reioyced in but which way the victory wil incline I yet know not Woe is me O Lord haue pitty on mee My sorrowes that be bad are in contention with my ioyes that bee good and which way the victory will encline I yet know not Alasse for mee O Lord haue pitty vpon mee Woe is mee behold I hide not my woundâ— thou art the Physician and I the Patient thou mercifull and I miserable Is not the life of man vpon earth a very temptation 2. Who is hee that would willingly endure troubles and difficulties These thou commandest to bee borne not to beloued for no man is in loue with the crosse which hee takes vp though hee loues well enough to take it vp For notwithstanding that he reioyces to beare yea much rather had hee that there were no crosse for him to beare In aduersity I desire prosperity and in prosperity am I afraid of aduersity what middle place now is there betwixt these two where this life of man is free from temptation Woe is threatned vnto the prosperity of this world againe againe both for the feare of aduersity and lest our ioy should bee marred Woe vnto the aduersities of this word againe and againe yet woe the third time vnto them and that because of the great desire men haue vnto prosperity Aduersity therefore being so hard a thing and which makes shipwracke oft times of our patience is not the life of man a very temptation vpon Earth and that without intermission CHAP. 29. Cur hope is all in God 1. NOw is all my hope no where but in thy very great mercy O Lord my God Giue mee patience to endure what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt Thou imposest continency vpon mee and when I perceiued as one sayth that no man can bee continent vnlesse thou giue it and that this was a point of wisedome to know whose gift it was By continency verily are wee bound vp and brought into vnity with thee from whom wee were scattered abroad into many diuisions for needes must hee loue thee lesse who loues any thing together with thee which hee loues not for thee O thon loue which art euer burning and neuer quenched O charity my God! kindle mee I beseech thee Thou enioynest me continency giue me what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt CHAP. 30. The deceitfulnesse of dreames 1. VErily thou commandest me to containe my selfe from the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the ambition of this world Thou commandest mee also to abstayne from carnall copulation and concerning wedlock thou didst now aduise me to a better course then that was which thou leftest me my free choyce in And because thou gauest it â—t was obtayned and that before I became a dispencer of thy Sacrament But yet still there liue in my memory which I haue now spoken so much of the Images of such things as my ill custome had there fixed and which rush into my thoughts though wanting strength euen whilest I am broad waking but in sleepe obey come vpon me not to delight onely but euen so farre as consent and most like to the deede doing yea so farre preuailes the illusion of that Image both in my soule and
drops of time are precious with mee and I haue long since had a burning desire to meditate in thy law and by it to confesse both my skill and vnskilfulnesse vnto thee the morning light of thy enlightning mee and the relikes of darknesse in mee so long remayning swallowed vp by till infirmitie bee strength Nor will I suffer my houres to bee squandered away vpon any other thing which I finde free from the necessities of refreshing of my body and the recreating of my minde and the complying in those offices of seruice which wee owe vnto men yea also which wee owe not and yet pay them 2. Giue eare vnto my prayer O Lord my God and let thy mercy hearken vnto my petition because it stryueth not to entreate for my selfe alone but to be beneficiall also to my brethren Thou seest my heart that so it is and that I am ready to sacrifice vnto thee the best seruice of my thoughts and tongue now giue mee what I am to offer vnto thee For I am poore and needy but thou art rich to all those that call vpon thee who not distracted with cares thy selfe takest the care of all vs. From all rashnesse and lying doe thou circumcise both my inward and my outward lippes Let my chaste delights bee thy Scriptures let me neyther be deceiued in them nor deceiued by them Hearken Lord and haue mercy vpon me O Lord my God O thou light of the blind and the strength of the weake yea also the light of those that see and the strength of the strong hearken thou vnto my soule and heare mee crying vnto thee out of the Deepe For if thine eares bee not with vs also in the Deepe whither then shall wee goe to whom shall wee cry The day is thine and the night is thine at thy backe the time passes away 3. Affoord out of it some spure time for my meditations vpon the hidden things of thy Law which I beseech thee shut not vp when they knocke for entrance at it For in vayne it was not that thou wouldest haue so many leaues full of darkesome secrets committed vnto wryting nor are those Fortests without their Harts which retire themselues into them making their range and walkes in them feeding lodging and chewing the Cud in them Perfect me O Lord and reueale them vnto me Behold thy voyce is my ioy yea thy voyce exceedeth the abundance of all pleasures Giue mee what I loue for verily I doe loue it and this loue is of thy giuing Forsake not therfore thine owne gifts nor despise thou him that thirsteth after thy herbage Let me confesse vnto thee whatsoeuer I shall finde in thy bookes and let mee heare the voyce of prayse and let me drinke thee vp and let me consider of the wonderfull things of thy law euen frō the very Beginning wherein Thou madest the heauen and the earth vnto that euerlasting kingdome of thy holy City which is before thee Haue mercy Lord vpon mee and heare my petition for it is not I suppose of the earth not for gold siuer or precious stones or gorgeous apparell or honors and offices or the pleasures of the flesh or necessaries for the body or for this life of our earthly pilgrimage all which shall bee added vnto those that seeke thy kingdome thy righteousnesse Behold O Lord my God what it is that I now desire The vngodly haue sometimes told mee what themselues delight in but they are not like the delights of thy Law See now whence my desire proceedes 4. See Father behold and approue and let it bee pleasing in the sight of thy mercy that I shall find so much grace with thee as that the Secrets of thy Word may bee opened vnto mee when I knocke By our Lord Iesus Christ thy Sonne I beseech thee that man on thy right hand that Sonne of man whom thou hast appoynted a Mediator betwixt thy selfe and vs by whom thou soughtest vs who little sought for thee yet didst thou seeke vs that wee might seeke thee and thy Word by whom thou madest all things and mee amongst them Thy Onely Sonne by whom thou hast called the beleeuing people vnto thee and mee amongst them by Him I beseech thee who sitteth at thy right hand and makes intercession for vs in whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge Him doe I seeke in thy bookes of Him Moses wrote this hee sayes this Truth sayes CHAP. 3. Hee desires to vnderstand the holy Scriptures 1. LEt mee heare and vnderstand how thou In the beginning hast made Heauen and Earth This Moses wrote of he wrote and passed away hee passed from hence vnto thee for he is not at this present before mine eyes for if hee were then would I lay hold of him and intreate him and for thy sake would I beseech him to open these things vnto me yea I would lay mine eares vnto his mouth But should he speake in the Hebrew tongue in vayne should hee beate mine eares for neuer should he come neere my vnderstanding whenas if he spake Latine I should well enough know what hee sayd 2. But how should I know whether he sayd true or no and if I could learne this too should I know it by him For within mee in that inward house of my thoughts neither the Hebrew nor the Greeke nor the Latine nor any other language but euen Truth it selfe and that without any helps of the mouth tongue without any sound of sillables should tell me He sayes true and my selfe therupon assured of it would confidently say vnto that seruant of thine Thou speakest truth Seeing I haue not now the meanes to conferre with Moses I beg of thee my God inspired by whom he vttred these truths I beg of thee the pardon of my sinnes and thou that enabledst that seruant of thine to deliuer these Truthes enable mee also to vnderstand them CHAP. 4. The Creatures proclayme God to bee their Creator 1 BEhold the heauens and the earth are already they proclaime themselues to haue beene created for they are changed and altered from what they were Whereas whatsoeuer is not made and yet hath a being hath nothing in it now which it had not before which to haue were indeede to bee changed and altered They proclayme also that they made not thēselues but say Therefore wee are because we are made and therefore were wee not before our time was to bee as if we could possibly haue made our selues Now the euidentnesse of the thing is this voyce of the Speakers 'T is thou therefore O Lord that madest them thou who art full of beauty they beeing fayre also thou who art good they also beeing good euen Thou who hast Being seeing these haue their Beings yet are they neyther so fayre so good nor are so as thou their Creator art compared with whom they are neyther fayre nor good nor are at all Thus much wee know thankes to
sounding vntill it be brought vnto the end proposed Yea it hath sounded and will sound for so much of it as is finished hath sounded already and the rest will sound And thus passeth it on vntill the present intention conueighs ouer the Future into the past by the diminution of the future the past gayning increase euen vntill by the vniuersall wasting away of the future all growes into the past CHAP. 28. Wee measure times in our mind 1. BVt how comes that future which as yet is not to be diminished or wasted away or how comes that past which now is no longer to bee encreased vnlesse in the minde which acteth all this there bee three things done For it expects it markes attentiuely it remembers that so the thing which it expecteth through that act or power which marketh may passe into that which remembreth Who therefore can deny that things to come are not as yet and for all that is there in the minde an expectation of things to come And who can deny past things to bee now no longer and yet is there still in the minde a memory of things passed And who can deny that the present time wants space because it passeth away in a poynt and yet our attentiue marking of it continues still through which the future passes to bee away The future therefore which is not yet is not a long time but the long future time is meerely A long expectation of the time to come Nor is the time past which is not still a long time but a long passed time is meerely A long memory of the passed time 2. I am about to repeate a song that I know Before I beginne my expectation alone retches it selfe ouer the whole but so soone as I shall haue once begunne how much so euer of it I shall by repeating take into the passed iust so much is retcht along in my memory yea and doubly retcht is the life of this action of mine into my memory so farre as concernes that part which I haue repeated already and into my Expectation too in respect of what I am about to repeate now yea and all this while is my marking faculty present at hand through which that which was Future is conueighed ouer that it may become the passed which how much the more diligently it is done ouer ouer againe so much more the Expectation being shortned is the memory enlarged till the whole Expectation be at length vanisht quite away when namely that whole action being ended all shall bee absolutely passed into the memory What is now done in this whole song the same is done also in euery part of it yea and in euery Syllable of it The same order holds in a longer action too whereof perchance this song is but a part This holds too throughout the whole course of a mans life the parts whereof bee all the Actions of the man It generally holds also throughout the whole age of the sonnes of men the parts whereof bee the whole liues of men CHAP. 29. How the mind lengthens out it selfe 1. BVt because thy louing kindnesse is better then the life it selfe behold my life is a thing meerely stretcht out but thy right hand hath receiued mee euen in my Lord the Sonne of man the Mediator betwixt thee that art but one and vs that are many in many sinnes by many sufferings that by him I may apprehend euen as I am apprehended and that I may bee recalled from my old conuersation to follow that one thing and forget what is behinde not called backe to follow those things that bee future and transitory not stretched forth immoderately but vnanimously bent towards those things which are before me not I say too immoderately stretcht out but with a full bent follow I hard on for the garland of my heauenly calling where I may heare the voyce of thy praise and contemplate that sweetnesse of thine which is neyther not now to come nor euer to passe away But now are my yeeres spent in mourning and thou O Lord my father euerlasting art my comfort And euen now haue I rang'd vp and downe after an inquisition of Times whose order I am yet ignorant of yea my thoughts remaine distracted with tumultuous varieties euen the inmost bowels of my soule vntill I may bee runne into thee thorowly purified and molten by the fire of thy loue CHAP. 30. Hee goes on in the same discourse 1. ANd after that will I leaue running and grow hard in thee appearing in mine owne forme thy truth nor will I endure the questions of such people who in a hote feauer thirst for more then their bellies will hold such as say What did God make before hee made heauen and earth Or What came in his minde to make any thing then hauing neuer made any thing before Giue them grace O Lord well to bethinke themselues what they say and to finde That they cannot say Neuer where there was no Time That he is sayd therfore Neuer to haue made what is it else to say then in no time to haue made Let them see therefore that there canot possibly bee any Time without some or other of thy Creatures and let them forbeare this so vaine talking Let them striue rather towards these things which are before and vnderstand thee the eternall Creator of all times to haue beene before all times and that no times bee coeternall with thee no nor any other creature although there should haue beene any creature before there were any times CHAP. 31. How God is knowne and how the creature 1. O Lord my God what bosome of thy deepe secretes is that and how farre from it haue the consequences of my transgressions cast mee O cure mine eyes that I may take ioy in thy light Certaynly if there be any mind excelling with such eminent vnderstanding and foreknowledge as to knowe all things past and to come so well as I knew that one Song truely that is a most admirable minde able with horror to amaze a man For where is that Hee from whom nothing done eyther in the former or to bee done in the after-ages of the world is no more concealed then that song was to mee whenas I sang it namely what and how much of it I had sung from the beginning what and how much there was yet vnto the ending But farre bee it from vs to thinke that thou the Creator of this Vniuerse the Creator of both soules and bodies farre bee iâ— from vs to thinke that thou shouldest no better know what were passed and what were to come Farre yea farre more wonderfully and farre more secretly doest thou know them For t is not as when at the note of the singer or the well-knowne song of the hearer through expectation of the words to come and the remembring of those that are passed the affection of the parties bee diuersely stirred and their Sences strayned vp to it that
part I say of all this doe you at last affirme to befalse Is it because I sayd that the first matter was without for me in which by reason there was no forme there was no order But then where no order was there could bee no interchange of times and yet this almost nothing in as much as it was not altogether nothing was from him certainely from whom is whatsoeuer is in what manner soeuer it is This also say they doe wee not deny CHAP. 16. Against such as contradict diuine truth and of his owne delight in it 1. VVIth these will I now parley a little in thy presence O my God who grant all these things to bee true which thy Truth whispers vnto my soule For as for those praters that deny all let them barke and bawle vnto themselues as much as they please my endeauour shall bee to perswade them to quiet and to giue way for thy word to enter them But if me they shall refuse and giue the repulse vnto do not thou hold thy peace I beseech thee O my God Speake thou truely vnto my heart for onely Thou so speakest and I will let them alone blowing the dust withou doores and raysing it vp into their owne eyes and myselfe will goe into my chamber and sing there a loue-song vnto thee mourning with groanes that cannot bee expressed and remembring Ierusalem with my heart lifted vp towards it Ierusalem my country Ierusalem my mother and thy selfe that rule in ouer it the enlightener the Father the guardian the husband the chast and strong delight and the solid ioy of it and all good things that bee vnspeakeable yea all at once because the onely Soueraigne and true good of it Nor will I bee made giue ouer vntill thou wholy gather all that is of me from the vnsetled and disordred estate I now am in into the peace of that our most deare mother where the first-fruites of my spirit be already whence I am ascertayned of these things and shall both conforme and for euer confirme mee in thy mercy O my God But as for those who no wayes affirme all these truths to bee false which giue all honour vnto thy holy Scriptures set out by Moses estating it as wee did in the top of that authority which is to bee followed and doe yet contradict mee in some thing or other to these I answer thus Be thy selfe Iudge O our God betweene my Confessions and these mens contradictions CHAP. 17. What the names of Heauen and Earth signifie 1. FOr they say Though all this that you say bee true yet did not Moses intend those two when by reuelation of the Spirit hee sayd In the beginning God created Heauen and Earth He did not vnder the name of heauen signifie that Spirituall or intellectuall creature which alwayes beholds the face of God nor vnder the name of earth that vnshap't matter What then That man of God say they meant as we say this was it hee declared by those words What 's that by the name of heauen and earth would hee signifie say they all this visible world in vniuersall and compendious termes first that afterwards in his sorting out the works of the seuerall dayes hee might ioynt by ioynt as it were bring euery thing into his order which it pleased the holy Ghost in such generall termes to expresse For such grosse heads were that rude and carnall people to which he spake as that he thought such workes of God as were visible onely fit to be mentioned vnto them So that this inuisible and vnshap't earth and that darkesome Deepe out of which consequently is shewne all these visible things generally knowne vnto all to haue beene made and disposed of in those sixe daies they doe and that not incongruously agree vpon to be vnderstood to bee this vnshapely first matter 2. What now if another should say That this vnshapelynesse confusednesse of matter was for this reason first insinuated to vs vnder the name of Heauen and earth because that this visible world with all those natures which most manifestly appeare in it which wee oft times vse to call by the name of heauen and earth was both created and fully furnished out of it And what if another should say that the inuisible and visible natures were not indeede absurdly called heauen and earth and consequently that the vniuersall creation which God made in his Wisedome that is In the begininng were comprehended vnder those two words Notwithstanding for that Al these bee not of the substance of God but created out of nothing because they are not the same that God is and that there is a mutable nature in them all whether they stand at a stay as the eternall house of God does or be changed as the soule and body of man are therfore the cōmon matter of all visible and inuisible things though yet vnshap't yet shapeable out of which both heauen and earth was to be created that is both the inuisible and visible creature now newly formed was expressed by the same names which the Earth as yet inuisible and vnshapen and the darknes vpon the deepe were to be called by but with this distinctiou that by the earth inuisible hitherto and vnshapen the corporeall matter be vnderstood before the qualitie of of any forme was introduced and by the darknesse vpon the deepe the spirituall matter bee vnderstood before it suffered any restraynt of its vnlimited fluidenesse and before it receiued any light from wisdome 3. There is yet more libertie for a man to say if hee be so disposed that namely the already perfected and formed natures both visible and inuisible were not comprehended vnder the name of heauen and earth when wee reade In the beginning God made heauen and earth but that the yet vnshapely rough hewing of things that Stuffe apt to receiue shape and making was onely called by these names and that because in it all these were confusedly contained as being not distinguished yet by their proper qualities and formes which being now digested into order are called Heauen and Earth meaning by that all spirituall creatures and by this all corporeall CHAP. 18. Diuers Expositors may vnderstand one Text seuerall wayes 1. ALL which things being heard well considered of I will not striue about words for that is profitable to nothing but the subuersion of the hearers but the law is good to edifie if a man vse it lawfully for that the end of it is charity out of a pure hart good conscience faith vnfained And well did our Master know vpon which two cōmandements he hung all the law and the Prophets And what preiudice does it mee now confessing zealously O my God thou light of my inner eyes if there may bee seuerall meanings gathered out of the same words so that withall both might bee true What hinders it mee I say if I thinke otherwise of the Writers meaning then another man does All wee
Readers verily striue both to finde out and to vnderstand the authors meaning whom wee reade and seeing wee beleeue him to speake truely wee dare not once imagine him to haue let fall any thing which our selues eyther know or thinke to be false Whilest euery man endeauours therefore to collect the same sence from the holy Scriptures that the Penman himselfe intended what hurt is it if a man so iudges of it euen as thou O' the light of all true-speaking minds dost shew him to bee true although the Author whom hee reades perceiued not so much seeing he also collecteth a Truth out of it though this particular trueth he perchance obserueth not CHAP. 19. Of some particular apparent truthes 1. FOr true it is O Lord That thou madest Heauen and Earth and it is true too that that Beginning is thy Wisedome in which thou createdst all and true againe that this visible world hath for his greater parts the Heauen and the Earth which in a briefe expression comprehend all made and created natures And true too That whatsoeuer is mutable giues vs to vnderstand that there is a want of forme in it by meanes whereof it is apt to receiue a forme or is changed or turned by reason of it It is true that that is subiect to no times which cleaueth so close vnto that vnchangeable forme as that though the nature of it bee mutable yet is it selfe neuer changed T is true that that vnshapednesse which is almost nothing cannot be subiect to the alteration of times T is true that that whereof a thing is made may by a figuratiue kinde of speaking bee called by the name of the thing made of it whence might heauen and earth bee sayd to bee that vnshap't Chaos whereof heauen and earth were made T is true that of things hauing forme there is not any neerer to hauing no forme then the earth and the deepe T is true that not onely euery created and formed thing but whatsoeuer is apt to bee created and formed is of thy making of whom are all things T is true that whatsoeuer is formed out of that which had no forme was vnformed before it was formed CHAP. 20. He interprets Gen. 1. 1. otherwise 1. OVt of these truths of which they little doubt whose internall eye thou hast enabled to see them and who irremoueably beleeue thy seruant Moses to haue spoken in the Spirit of truth Out of all these therefore I say hee collecteth another sence vnto himselfe who sayth In the beginning God made the heauen and the earth that is to say in his Word coeternall vnto himselfe God made the intelligible and the sensible or the spirituall and the corporeall creature And he another that saith In the beginning God made Heauen and Earth that is in his Word coeternall vnto himselfe did God make the vniuersall bulke of this corporeall world together with all those apparantly knowne creatures which it contayneth 2. And hee another that sayth In the beginning God made Heauen and Earth that is In his word coeternall vnto himselfe did God make the formelesse matter both of the creature spirituall and corporeall And he another that sayth In the beginning God created Heauen and Earth that is In his Word coeternall vnto himselfe did God create the formeles matter of the creature corporeal wherein heauen and earth lay as yet confused which being now distinguished and formed we at this day see in the bulke of this world And he another who sayth In the beginning God made heauen and earth that is In the very beginning of creating and of working did God make that formelesse matter confusedly contayning in it selfe both heauen and earth out of which what were afterwards formed doe at this day eminently appeare with all that is in them CHAP. 21. These words The Earth was voyd c. diuersly vnderstood 1. ANd forasmuch as concerns the vnderstanding of the words following out of all which truths that Interpreter chuses one to himselfe who sayth But the Earth was inuisible and vnfashioned and darknesse was vpon the deepe that is That incorporeall thing that God made was as yet a formelesse matter of corporeall things without order without light Another sayes thus The Earth was inuisible and vnfashioned and darknesse was vpon the deepe that is This All now called heauen and earth was a shapelesse and darksome matter hitherto of which the corporeall heauen and the corporeall earth were to bee made with all things in them now knowne vnto our corporeall sences Another sayes thus The Earth was inuisible and shapeless and darknes was vpon the deepe that is This All now called heauen and earth was but a formelesse and a darkesome matter hitherto out of which was to be made both that intelligible heauen which is other where called The Heauen of heavens and the Earth that 〈◊〉 say the whole corporeall 〈…〉 which 〈…〉 vnderstood this corporeall heauen also that â—â—â—ely out of which euery visible and inuisible creature 〈…〉 be created â— mother sayes thus The â—â—rth was inuisible and shapelesse and darknes was vpon the deepe that is The Scripture did not call that vnshapelynesse by the name of Heauen and Earth for that vnshapelynes sayth hee was already in being and that was it hee called the Earth inuisible without and shape and darkenesse vpon the deepe of which hee had sayd before that God had made heauen and earth namely the spirituall and corporeall creature Another sayes The Earth was inuisible and without shape and darknes was vpon the Deepe that is the matter was now a certayne vnshapelynesse of which the Scripture sayd before that God made heauen and earth namely the whole corporeall bulke of the world deuided into two great parts vpper and lower with all the common known creatures in them CHAP. 22. That the waters are also contayned vnder the names of Heauen and Earth 1. BVt if any man shall attempt to dispute against these two last opinions with this argument If you will not allow that this vnshapelynesse of matter seemd to be called by the name of heauen and earth Ergo there was something which God neuer made out of which he was to make heauen and earth Nor indeed hath the Scripture told vs that God made this heauen and earth but meerely to haue vs vnderstand that matter to be signified eyther by the name of heauen and earth together or of the earth alone whenas it sayd In the beginning God made the heauen and earth that so by that which followes And the Earth was inuisible and without forme although it pleased Him to call the formlesse matter by those termes yet may wee vnderstand no other matter but that which God made in that Text where t is written God made Heauen and Earth 2. The mayntayners of those two latter opinions eyther this or that will vpon the first hearing returne this answere Wee doe not deny this formelesse matter to be indeede created by God
of whome are all things which are very good for as we affirme that to be a greater good which is created and formed so we confesse likewise that to be a lesser good which is made with no more then an aptnesse in it to receiue Creation and forme and yet euen that is good too But b yet hath not the Scripture set downe That God made this vnshapely Chaos no more then it hath set downe those many other things that Hee made as the Cherubins and Seraphins and the rest which the Apostle distinctly speaks of Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers all which that God made it is most apparant 3. Or if in that text where t is sayd He made heauen and earth all things bee comprehended what shall wee then say of the waters vpon which the Spirit of God mooued For if all things bee vnderstood to bee named at once in this word Earth how then can this formelesse matter bee meant in that name of Earth when wee see the waters so beautifull Or if it bee so taken why then is it written That out of the same vnshapely matter the Firmament was made and called Heauen and That the waters were created is not written For the waters remaine not formlesse inuisible vnto this day seeing wee behold them flowing in so comely a manner But if they at that time receiued the beauty they now haue whenas God sayd Let the waters vnder the Firmament bee gathered together vnto one place that so the gathering together of the waters may bee taken for the forming of them what will they answer for those waters which be aboue the Firmament seeing if they had not any forme at all neuer should they haue beene worthy of so honorable a seate nor is it written by what Word they were formed 4. So that if Genesis hath said nothing of Gods making of some one thing which yet no sound fayth nor well-grounded vnderstanding once doubteth but that he did make let no sober knowledge once dare to affirme these waters to bee coeternall with God for that we finding them to be barely mentioned in the booke of Genesis doe not finde withall where they were created Why seeing truth teaches vs may wee not as well vnderstand that formelesse matter which this Scripture calls the inuisible and vnshap't Earth and darksome deepe to haue beene created by God out of nothing and therefore not to be coeternall to him notwithstanding that this story hath omitted to shew where it was created CHAP. 23. In interpreting of holy Scripture truth is to be sought with a charitable construction 1. THese things therefore being heard and perceyued according to the weakenesse of my capacity which I cōfesse vnto thee O Lord that very well knowest it two sorts of differences doe I perceiue likely to arise whensoeuer any thing is by words related though euen by the truest reporters One when the difference riseth cōcerning the truth of the things the other when it is concerning the meaning of the Relater For we enquire one way about the making of the thing created what may be true another way what it is that Moses that notable dispencer of thy fayth would haue his reader and hearer to vnderstand in those words For the first sort away with all those which once imagine themselues to know that as a truth which is in it selfe false and for this other sort away with all them too which once imagine Moses to haue written things that bee false But let mee euer in thee O Lord take part with them and in thee delight my selfe in them that edifie themselues with thy truth in the largenesse of a charitable construction yea let vs haue recourse together vnto the words of thy booke and make search for thy meaning in them by the meaning of thy Seruant by whose pen thou hast dispensed them CHAP. 24. The Scripture is true though we vnderstand not the vttermost scope or depth of it 1. BVt which of vs all shall bee so able as to finde out this full meaning among those so many words which the seekers shall euery where meete withall sometimes vnderstood this way and sometimes that way as that hee can confidently affirme This Moses thought and This would be haue vnderstood in that story as hee may boldly say This is true whether he thought this or that For behold O my God I thy seruant who haue in this book vowed a Sacrifice of Confession vnto thee doe now beseech thee that by thy mercy I may haue leaue to pay my vowes vnto thee 2. See here how confidently I affirme That in thy Incommutable Word thou hast created all things visible and inuisible but dare I so confidently affirme That Moses had no further meaning when hee wrote In the beginning God made Heauen and earth No. Because though I perceiue this to be certaine in thy truth yet can I not so easily looke into his minde That he thought iust so in the writing of it For hee might haue his thoughts vpon Gods very entrance into the act of creating whenas hee sayd In the beginning hee might entend to haue it vnderstood by Heauen and Earth in this place no one nature eyther spirituall or corporeall as already formed and perfected but both of them newly begun and as yet vnshapen 3. For I perceiue that whichsoeuer of the two had beene sayd it might haue beene truely sayd but which of the two hee thought of in these words I doe not perceiue so truely Although whether it were eyther of these or any sence beside that I haue not here mentioned which so great a man saw in his minde at the vttering of these words I nothing doubt but that hee saw it truely and exprest it aptly Let no man vexe me now by saying Moses thought not as you say but as I say For if hee should aske mee How know you that Moses thought that which you inter out of his words I ought to take it in good part and would answer him perchance as I haue done heretofore or something more at large if I were minded to put him hard to it CHAP. 25. We are not to breake charity about a different Exposition of Scripture 1. BVt when he sayth Moses ment not what you say but what I say yet denyeth not what eyther of vs say these may both bee true O my God thou life of the poore whose brest harbours no contradiction rayne thou some thoughts of mitigation into my heart that I may patiently beare with such who differ not thus with me because they fauour of diuine things or be able to discouer in the heart of thy seruant what they speake but because they bee proud not knowing Moses opinion so well as louing their owne not for that t is truth but because t is theirs Otherwise they would as well loue another true opinion as I loue what they say when t is true 〈…〉 they say not because t is theirs but because t
somewell-filld Fruit-yards in which they discouering some fruites concealed vnder the leaues gladly flock thither and with cherefull chirpings seek out and pluck off these fruites For thus much at the reading or hearing of 〈…〉 words doe they discerne â— how that all things 〈…〉 to come are out 〈…〉 by thy eternall and 〈…〉 continuance at the 〈…〉 and how there is 〈…〉 all that any one of the 〈…〉 all creatures which 〈…〉 of thy making O God â—hose Will because it is the â—â—â— that thy selfe is is no â—â—â—s changed nor was it â—â—â— Will newly resolued vpâ—â— or which before was not â—â— thee by which thou createdst all things not out of thy selfe in thine own similiâ—â—â— which is the forme of â—â— things but out of nothing â—â— a formelesse vnlikenesse to â—â— selfe which might after â—â—â— formed by thy similitude â—â—â—â—â—king its recourse â—â—â— thee who art but one 〈…〉 to the capacity 〈…〉 for it so farre as is giuen to each thing in his kind and might all bee made very good whether they abide neere about thy selfe or which being by degrees remoued further off by times and by Places do eyther make or suffer many a goodly narration These things they see and they reioyce in the light of thy trueth according to all that little which from hence they are able to conceiue 2. Another bending his obseruation vpon that which is spokeÌ„ In the beginning God made heauen and earth hath a conceit that that begining is Wisedome because that also speaketh vnto vs. Another aduising likewise vpon the same words by Beginning vnderstands the first entrance of the things created taking them in this sense In the begining he made as if he should haue sayd He at first 〈◊〉 And among them that vnderstand In the beginning 〈◊〉 In thy Wisedome thou createdst heauen and earth One beleeues the matâ—â—â—â— of which the heauen and earth were to be created to be there called heauen and earth Another the natures already formed and distinguished Another vnder the 〈◊〉 of Heauen conceiues â—â—â— one formed nature and that the spirituall one to bee 〈◊〉 and vnder the name of Earth the other formelesse 〈◊〉 of the corporeall matter And as for them that vnder the names of heauen and earth vnderstand the matter as yet vnformed out of which heauen and earth 〈◊〉 to be formed neyther let they vnderstand it after 〈…〉 manner but One 〈◊〉 matter out of which both the intelligible and the sensible creature were to bee made vp Another that matter onely out of which this sensible corporeall bulke was to bee made which in his mighty bosome contaynes these natures so easie to bee seene and so ready to be had Neyther yet doe euen they vnderstand alike who beleeue the creatures already finished and disposed of to bee in this place called heauen and earth but one vnderstands both the inuisible and visible nature another the visible onely in which wee behold this lightsome heauen and darkesome earth with all things in them contayned CHAP. 29. How many wayes a thing may be sayd to be first 1. BVt he that no otherwise vnderstands In the beginning he made then if iâ— were sayd At first he made hath on ground whereupon with any truth he may vnderstand heauen earth vnlesse hee withall vnderstand the matter of heauen and earth that is to say of the vniuersall intelligible and corporeall creature For if he would haue the vniuerse to be already formed it may be rightly demanded of him If so be God made this first what then made hee after wards After the vniuerse surely he will finde nothing at all wherevpon must bee against his will heare of another question How is a thing first if after it there bee nothing But when he sayes God made the matter vnformed at first â—ad formed it afterwards there is no absurdity committed prouided that he bee able to discerne what 〈◊〉 first in eternity what in time what in choyce and what in Originall First in eternity so God is before all things first in time so is the flower before the fruit first in choyce so is the fruit before the flower first in Originall so is the sound before the Tune Of these foure the first and last that I haue mentioned are with extreme difficulty obtayned to be vnderstood but the two middlemost easily enough For too subtle and too losty a vision it is to behold thy eternity O Lord vnchangeably making these changeable things and so in that respect to be before them 2. And who in the second place is of so sharpe-sighted an vnderstanding as that hee is able without great paines to discerne how the sound should bee before the Tune yet is it so for this reason because a Tune is a sound that hath forme in it and likewise 〈…〉 that a thing not formed may haue a being whereas that which hath no forme can haue no being Thus is the matter before the thing made of â—â— Which matter is not before the thing in this respect for that it makes the thing seeing it selfe is rather made into the thing nor is it before in respect of distance of time for we doe not first in respect of time vtter formelesse founds without singing and then tune or fashion the same sounds into a form of singing afterwards iust as wood or siluer be seru'd whereof a chest or vessell is fashioned Such materials indeede doe in time precede the formes of those things which are made of them but in singing it is not so for when a man sings the sound is heard at the same time seeing that hee does not make a rude formelesse sound first and then bring it into the forme of a Tune afterwards 3. For a sound iust as it is made so it passeth nor canst thou finde aught of it which thou mayst call backe and set vnto a tune by any Art thou canst vse therefore is the tune carryed along in his sound which sound of his is his matter which verily receiues a forme that it may become a tune And therefore as I sayd is the matter of the sound before the forme of the tune not before in respect of any power it hath to make it a tune for a sound is no way the workemaster that makes the tune but being sent out of the body is like materials subiected to the soule to make a tune out of Nor is it first in our choyce seeing a sound is not better then a tune a tune being not onely a bare sound but a gracefull sound But it is first in Originall because a tune receiues not forme to cause it to become a sound but a sound receiues forme to cause it to become a tune By this example let him that is able vnderstand the matter of things to bee first made and called Heauen and Earth because Heauen and Earth were made out of it Yet was not this matter first made in respect of time because that the forme of
disquieted within me Trust in the Lord his word is a lanthorne vnto thy feete trust and abide on him vntill the night the mother of the wicked vntill the wrath of the Lord bee ouerpast the children of which wrath our selues who were sometimes darknesse haue beene the reliques of which darkenesse wee still beare about vs in our body dead because of sinne vntill the day breake and the shadowes flee away 2. Hope thou in the Lord in the morning I shall stand in thy presence and contemplate thee yea I shall for euer confesse vnto thee In the morning I shall stand in thy presence and shall see the health of my countenance euen my God who also shall quicken our mortall bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in vs who in mercie sometimes moued vpon our inner darkesome and floating deepe from whome in this our pilgrimage wee haue receiued such a pledge as that euen now wee are light euen alreadie in this life whilest wee are saued by hope made the Children of light and the Children of the day not the Children of the night nor of the darknes which yet somtimes we haue beene Betwixt which Children of darknesse and vs in this vncertainety of humane knowledge thou onely canst deuide thou who prouest the hearts and callest the light day and the darkenesse night For who can discerne vs but thou And what haue we that wee haue not receiued of thee Out of the same lump are some made for vessels of honour and others for dishonour CHAP. 15. By the word Firmament is the Scripture meant 1 BVt who except thou O our God made that Firmament of the Authority of thy diuine Scripture to bee ouer vs as t is said The heauen shall be folded vp like a booke and is euen now stretcht ouer vs like a skin For thy holy Scripture is of more eminent authority since those mortals departed this life by whom thou dispensest it vnto vs. And thou knowest O Lord thou knowest how thou with skins didst once apparell men so soone as they by sin were become mortall Wherevpon hast thou like a skinne stretched out the Firmament of thy booke that is to say those words of thine so well agreeing together which by the ministry of mortall men thou spreadest ouer vs. For by the death of those men is that solid strength of authority appearing in the bookes set by them more eminently stretched ouer all that bee now vnder it which strength whil'st they liued on earth was not then so eminently stretched out ouer vs. Thou hadst not as yet spredde abroad that heauen like a skin thou hadst as yet euery where noysed abroad the report of their deaths 2 Let vs looke O Lord vpon the heauens the worke of thy fingers cleare our eyes of that mist with which thou hast ouer cast them there is that testimony of thine which giueth wisdome vnto the little ones perfect O my God thine owne prayse cut of the mouth of babes and sucklings Nor haue wee knowne any other bookes which so destroy pride which so beate downe the aduersary and him that stands vpon his own guard that standeth out vpon termes of reconciliation with thee in defence of his owne sinnes I know not Lord I knowe not of any other such chaste words that are so powerfull in perswading me to Confession and in making thy yoake easie vnto my neck and in inuiting mee to serue thee for very loues sake Graunt mee to vnderstand them good Father grant me thus much that am placed vnder them because that for them who are placed vnder them thou hast settled them so surely 3. Other Waters also there bee aboue this firmamenent immortall they bee as I beleeue and separated from all earthly corruption Let those supercelestiall people thine Angels prayse thee yea let them prayse thy name they who haue no neede to receiue this Firmament or by reading to attaine the knowledge of thy Word For they alwayes behold thy face and there doe they reade without any syllables measurable by times what the meaning is of thy eternall will They reade they chuse they loue They are euer reading yet that neuer passes ouer which they reade because by choosing and by louing doe they reade the vnchangeablenesse of thy counsayle Their booke is neuer closed nor shall it bee euer clasped seeing thy selfe is that volume vnto them yea thou art so eternally For thou hast ordayned them to bee aboue this Firmament which thou hast settled ouer the infirmenesse of the lower people where-out they might receiue and take notice of thy mercy which sets thee forth after a temporall manner euen thee that madest times For thy mercy O Lord is in the Heauens and thy truth reacheth vnto the clouds The clouds pass away but the heauen abides the Preachers of thy Word passe out of this life into another but thy Scripture is spred abroad ouer the people euen vnto the end of the world 4. Yea both heauen and earth shall passe but thy words shall not passe away because the parchment shall bee folded vp and the grasse ouer which it was spred out shall with the goodlynesse of it also passe away but thy Word remaineth for euer Which word now appeareth vnto vs vnder the darkenesse of the cloudes and vnder the glasse of the heauens and not as in it selfe it is because that euen we though the well-beloued of thy Sonne yet is it not hitherto manifest what we shall be He standeth looking thorow the lattis of our flesh and he spake vs faire yea hee set vs on fire and wee ranne after the sent of his odors But when he shall appeare then shall we be like him for we shall see him as he is Graunt vs Lord to see him that is our owne though the time bee not yet come CHAP. 16. God is vnchangeable 1. FOr fully as in thy selfe thou art thou onely knowest thou who ART vnchangeably and know est vnchangeably and willest vnchangeably And thy essence both knoweth and willeth vnchangeably And thy knowledge Is wills vnchangeably and thy will Is knows vnchangeably Nor seemes it right in thine eyes that in the same manner as an vnchangeable light knoweth it selfe so it should be known of a thing changeable that receiues light from another My soule is therefore like a land where no water is because that as it cannot of it selfe enlighten it selfe so can it not of it selfe satisfie it selfe For so is the fountaine of life with thee like as in thy light we shall see light CHAP. 17. What is meant by dry land and by the Sea 1. VVHo gathered bitter spirited people together into one society Because that all of them propound to themselues the same end of a temporall and earthly felicity for attayning whereof they doe whateuer they do though in the doing they wauer vp and downe with innumerable variety
of cares Who Lord but thy selfe who once commandedst That the waters should be gathered together into one place and that the dry land should appeare which thirsteth after thee For the Sea is thine and thou hast made it and thy hands prepared the dry land Nor is the bitter spiritednesse of mens wills but the gathering together of the waters called Sea yet doest thou also restraine the wicked desires of mens soules and settest them their bounds how far the waters may be suffered to passe that their waues may breake one against another and in this manner makest thou it a Sea by th' order of thy dominion which goes ouer all things 2. But as for the soules that thirst after thee and that appeare before thee being by other bounds deuided from the society of the Sea them dost thou so water by a sweet spring that the Earth may bring forth fruite and thou O Lord so coÌ„manding our soule may bud forth her workes of mercy according to their kind when we loue our neighbour in the reliefe of his bodily necessities hauing seede in it selfe according to its likenesse Whenas out of the consideration of our owne infirmity wee so farre compassionate them as that we are ready to releeue the needy helping them euen as wee would desire to be helped out owne selues if wee in like manner were in any necessity And that not in things easie to vâ— aloue as in the greene hearâ— which hath seede in it but also in affording them the protection of our assistance wâ—â— our best strength like the tree that brings forth fruit that is to say some right good turne for the rescuing him that suffers wrong out of the clutches of him that is too strong for him and by affording him the shelter of our protection by the powerfull arme of iust iudgement CHAP. 18. He continues his Allegory in alluding to the workes of the Creation 1. SO Lord euen so I beseech thee Let it spring out as already thou makest it doe as already thou giuest cheerfulnesse and ability Let Truth spring out of the Earth and righteousnesse looke doâ—n from Heauen and let there be lights in the Firmament Let vs breake our bread vnto the hungry and let vs bring the poore that is cast out into our owne house Let vs cloath the naked neuer despise those of our own flesh Which fruits being once sprung out of the earth see that it is good and let our temporary light break forth and wee our selues from this inferiour fruitfulnesse of Action arriuing to that superior word of life in the delightfulnesse of Contemplation may appeare at length like the lights in the world fast settled to the Firmament of thy Scriptures For there by discourse thou so clearest things vnto vs as that we be enabled to deuide betweene Intelligible sensible creatures as betwixt the day and the night or betweene soules giuen eyther to Intellectuall or vnto sensible creatures insomuch as not onely thou thy selfe in the secret of thine owne Iudgement like as before euer the Firmament was made thou deuidest betweene the light and the darkenesse but thy spirituall children also set and rancked in the same Firmament thy grace now clearely shining throughout their Orbe may now giue then light vnto the earth and deuide betwixt the day and the night and bee for signes of times seasons namely that old things are passed with theÌ„ lo all things are become new and that our saluation is now neerer then when we first beleeued and that the night is passed and the day is at hand and that thou wilt crown the yeere with thy blessing send labourers into thy haruest in the sowing whereof others haue taken paines before sowing the seed also for another harwest which shal be in the end of the world 2. Thus giuest thou life to him that seeketh 〈◊〉 and thou blessest the yeeres of the 〈…〉 But thou art the same and in thy yeeres which fayle not thou preparest a beginning for the yeeres that are a passing For thou in thy eternall counsayle doest in their proper seasons bestow thy heauenly blessings vpon the earth for to one there is giuen by thy Spirit the word of wisdome resembling the greater light for them who are delighted with the brightnesse of perspicuous trueth rising as it were in the beginning of the day To another is giuen the word of knowledge by the same Spirit resembling the lesser light To another faith to another the gift of healing to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of Spirites to another diuers kinds of tongues and all these resemble the lesser starres All these worketh the same Spirit deuiding what is fit for euery man euen as it will and causing the starres to appeare in their brightnesse vnto ech mans edification 3. But as for the word of knowledge wherein are all the Sacraments contayned which are varied in their seasons like the Moone together with those other notions of gifts which are afterwards reckned vp like the startes they so much come short of the brightnesse of wisdome in as much as their rising is in the beginning of the night But yet are these necessary vnto such as that wisest seruant of thine could not speake vnto as vnto spirituall but as vnto carnall men euen hee who also speaketh wisdome among those that are perfect As for the naturall man like him who is a babe in Christ and a sucker of milke till such time as he growes bigge enough for strong meate and can looke steadily against the Sunne let him not vtterly forsake his night but rest himselfe contented with what light the Moone the Starres affoord him These discourses holdest thou with vs O our most wise God in thy Bible that Firmament of thine that we may learne by it how to discerne of all these things in an admirable contemplation though still but in Signes and in times and in daies and in yeeres CHAP. 19. Our hearts are to be purged from vice that they may be capable of vertue He still continues his Allegory of the creation 1. BVt wash you first make you cleane put away the euill of your doings out of your own hearts and from before mine eyes that the dry land may appeare Learne to doe good iudge the fatherlesse pleade for the widdow that the earth may bring foorth the greene herb for meate and the tree bearing fruite and then come let vs reason together saith the Lord that there may bee light in the Firmament of the heauen let them shine vpon the earth That rich young man demanded of our good master what he should do to attaine eternal life Let our good master tell him whom he thought to bee no more then a man who is good because hee is God let him tell him That if he would enter into life hee must keepe the commandemeÌ„ts let
him put away the bitternesse of malice and wickednesse let him not kil nor commit adultery nor steale nor beare false witnesse that the dry land may appeare and bring forth the honouring of Father and mother and the loue of our neyghbour All these sayth hee haue I kept 2. Whence then commeth such stoare of thornes if so bee the earth bee fruitefull Goe stubbe vp those thicke bushes of couetousnesse sell that thou hast and fill thy selfe with standing corne by giuing to the poore and follow the Lord if thou wilt be perfect that is associated to them among whom he speaketh wisedome he that well knoweth what to distribute to the day and what vnto the night that thou also mayst know it and that for thee there may bee lights made in the Firmament of heauen which neuer will bee vnlesse thy heart be there nor will that euer bee vnlesse there thy treasure bee also like as thou hearest of our good master But that barren earth was sorry at that saying and the thornes choaked the word in him 2. But you O chosen generation you weake things of the world who haue forsaken all that ye may follow the Lord goe yee now after him and confound the strong go after him O yee beautifull feete and shine yee in the Firmament that the heauens may declare his glory you that are mid-way betweene the light and the perfect ones though not so perfect yet as the Angels and the darkenesse of the little ones though not vtterly despised Shine yee ouer all the earth and let one day enlightened by the Sunne vtter vnto another day a speech of Wisedome and one night enlightened by the Moone shew vnto another night a word of knowledge The Moone and Starres shine in the night yet doeth not the night obscure them seeing they giue that light vnto it which it is capeable of For behold as if God had giuen the word Let there lights in the Firmament of heauen there came suddenly a sound from heauen as it had been the rusking of a mighty winde and there appeared clouen tongues like as it had beene of fire and it sate vpon each of them and there were made lights in the Firmament of heauen which had the word of life in them Ely euery where about O you holy flies O you beauteous fires for you are the light of the world nor are you put vnder a bushell he whom you claue vnto is exalted himselfe and hath exalted you Ranne you abroad and make your selues knowne vnto all nations CHAP. 20. He allegorizes vpon the creation of spirituall things 1. LEt the Sea also conceiue and bring forth your works ◠and let the waters bring foorth the mouing creature that hath life For you by separating the good from the bad are made the mouth of God by whom he sayd Let the waters bring forth not a liuing soule which the earth brings forth but the mouing creatures hauing life in it and the winged fowles that fly ouer the earth For thy Sacrament O God by the ministerie of thy holy ones haue moued in the middest of the waues of temptation of this present world for the trayning vp of the Gentiles vnto thy name in thy baptisme In the doing wherof many a great wonder was wrought resembling the huge Whales and the voyces of thy Messengers flying aboue the Earth in the open Firmament of thy Bible that being set ouer them as their authority vnder which they were to fly whithersoeuer they went For there is no speech nor language where their voyce is not heard Seeing their sound is gone thorow all the Earth and their words to the end of the world because thou O Lord hast enlarged them by thy blessing 2. Say I not true or doe I mingle and confound and not sufficiently distinguish betweene the knowledge of these lightsome creatures that are in the Firmament of heauen and these corporeall workes in the wauy Sea and those things that are vnder the Firmament of heauen For of those things whereof the vnderstanding is solid and bounded within themselues without any increases of their generations like the lights of Wisedome and Knowledge as it were yet euen of them the operations bee corporeall many and diuers and one thing growing out of another they are multiplyed by thy blessing O God who hast refreshed our soone cloyed mortall sences that so the thing which is but one in the vnderstanding of our mind may by the motions of our bodies bee many seuerall wayes set out and discoursed vpon These Sacraments haue the Waters brought forth yea indeede the necessities of the people estranged from the eternity of thy trueth haue brought them foorth in thy Word that is in thy Gospell Because indeede the Waters cast them foorth the bitternesse whereof was the very cause why these Sacraments went along accompanied with thy Word 3. Now are all things faire that thou hast made but loe thy selfe is infinitely fairer that madest these all from whom had not Adam falne this brackishnesse of the Sea had neuer flowed out of his Ioines namely this mankind so profoundly and so tempestuously swelling and so restlesly tumbling vp and downe And then had there beene no necessitie of thy ministers to worke in many waters after a corporeall and sensible maner such mysterious doings and sayings For in this sense haue those mouing flying creatures at this present fallen into my meditation in which people being trayned vp admitted into though they had receiued corporeal Sacraments should not for all this bee able to profit by them vnlesse their soule were also quickned vp vnto a higher pitch and vnlesse after the word of admission it looked forwards to Perfection CHAP. 21. He allegorizes vpon the Creation of Birds and fishes alluding by them vnto such as haue receiued the Lords supper are better taught and mortified which are perfecter Christians then the meerly baptized 1. ANd hereby by vertue of thy Word not the deepnesse of the Sea but the earth it selfe once separated from the bitternesse of the waters brings forth not the creeping and flying creatures of seules hauing life in them but the liuing soule it selfe which hath now no more neede of Baptisme as the heathen yet haue and as it selfe also had when it was couered heretofore with the waters For there is entrance into the kingdome of heauen no other way since the time that thou hast instituted this Sacrament for mē to enter by nor does the liuing soule any more seeke after miracles to worke Beliefe nor is it so with it any longer That vnlesse it sees signes and wonders it will not beleeue now that the faithfull Earth is separated from the waters that were bitter with infidelity and that tongues are for a signe not to them that beleeue but to them that beleeue not The Earth therefore which thou hast founded vpon the waters hath no more neede
of speaking it is corporeally expressed and thus doth this Fry of the waters increase and multiply Obserue againe Reader who euer thou art behold I say that which the Scripture deliuers and the voice pronounces one onely way In the Beginning God created Heauen Earth is it not vnderstood many a seuerall way not w th any deceit of errour but in seuerall kinds of very true sences Thus does mans of spring increase and multiply 4. If therefore wee can conceiue of the natures of things not allegorically but properly then may the phrase Increase and multiply very well agree vnto all things whatsoeuer that come of any kinde of Seede But if wee intreate of the words as figuratiuely spoken which I rather suppose to be the purpose of the Scripture which doth not I beleeue superfluously attribute this benediction vnto the increases of watery and humane creatures onely then verily doe we find multitudes both in creatures spirituall and creatures corporeall as in Heauen and Earth and in Soules both righteous and vnrighteous as in light and darkenesse and in holy Authors who haue beene the Ministers of the Law vnto vs as in the Firmament which is settled betwixt the higher and the lower Waters and in the society of people yet in the bitternesse of infidelity as in the Sea and in the studies of holy soules as in the dry land and in the workes of mercy done in this life as in the herbs bearing seede and in the fruitefull trees and in spirituall gifts shining forth for our edification as in the lights of heauen and in mens affections reformed vnto temperance as in the liuing soule in all these instances we meete with multitudes abundance and increase 5. But that such an increase and multiplying should come as that one thing may be vnderstood and expressed many wayes and one of those expressions vnderstood seuerall waies too wee doe no where find except in words corporeally expressed and in things intelligibly deuided By these words corporeally pronounced wee vnderstand the generations of the waters and that for the necessary causes of fleshly profundity by these things intelligibly diuided wee vnderstand humane generations and that for the fruitfulnesse of their reason And euen therefore we beleeue thee Lord to haue sayd to both these kinds Increase and multiply for that within the compasse of this blessing I conceiue thee to haue granted vs a power and a faculty both to expresse seuerall waies that which wee vnderstand but one and to vnderstand seuerall waies that which wee reade to bee obseurely deliuered but in one Thus are the waters of the Sea replenished which are not moued but by seuerall significations thus with humane increase is the earth also replenished whose drynesse appeared by its affections ouer which reason ruleth CHAP. 25. He allegorically compareth the Fruites of the Earth vnto the duties of piety I Will now also deliuer O Lord my God that which the following Scripture puts mee in minde of yea I will deliuer it without feare For I will vtter the truth thy selfe inspiring me with what thy pleasure was to haue me deliuer concerning those words But by no other inspiration then thine can I beleeue my selfe to speake truth seeing thou art the very truth and euery man a lyer He therefore that speaketh a lye speaketh it of his owne that therefore I may speake truth I will speake it from thee Behold thou hast giuen vnto vs for foode euery herbe bearing seede which is vpon the face of all the earth and euery tree in which is the fruit of a tree yeelding seede And that not to vs alone but also to all the Fowles of the ayre and to the beasts of the earth and to all creeping things but vnto the Fishes and to the greate whales hast thou not giuen them 2. Now by these fruites of the earth wee sayd before that the workes of mercy were signified and figured out in an Allegory which for the necessition of this life are afoorded as 〈◊〉 of a fruitfull earth Such an Earth was the doâ— out Quâ—siphâ—rus vnto whose housethou gauest mercy who often refreshed thy Paul and was not ashamed of his chaine With such a crop were those Brethren fruitfull also who out of Mecedonia supplied his wants But how much grieued hee for such trees as did not affâ—â—rd him the fruite due vnto him where hee sayth At my first â—â—swere no man stood by me 〈◊〉 men forsooke me I pray God that it may not be layd to their charge For these fruits are due vnto such as minister the Spirituall doctrine vnto vs out of their vnderstanding of the diuine Mysteries and they are due â—â— vnto them as they are 〈◊〉 yea and due so vnto them also as vnto liuing 〈◊〉 in that they giue themselues as patternes of imitation in all continencie â—nd so are they due vnto them also as they are flying 〈◊〉 for their Blessings which are multiplied vpon the 〈◊〉 because their found i gaue out into all lands CHAP. 26. The pleasure and the profit redounding to vs out of a 〈◊〉 turne done vnto our neyghbour 1. THey now are fedde by these fruites that are delighted with them nor are those delighted with them whose belly is their God Neither yet euen in them that yeeld them is that the fruit which they yeeld but the mind with which they affoord them Hee therefore that serued God not his own belly I plainely see the thing that caused him so to reioyce I see it and I reioyce with him For hee had receiued fruit from the Philippians who had sent it by Spaphroditâ—s vnto him and yet I still perceiue the cause of his reioycing For that which hee reioyced vpon that hee fed because hee speaking as truth was of it I reioyced sayth hee greatly in the Lord that now at last your 〈◊〉 of mâ— hath flourished againe wherein yee were also carefull but it was tedious vnto you These Philippians therefore had now euen rotted away with a longsome irkesomnesse and withered as it were in respect of the fruit of this good worke and he now reioyceth for them not for himselfe that they fliurisht again in asmuch as they now supplyed his wants Therefore sayth hee afterwards This I speake not in respect of want for I haue learned in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abasâ—i and I know how to abound euery where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer neede I can do all things through him which strengtheneth me â— Of what art thou so glad O great Paul of what art thou so glad what is it thou so feedest vpoÌ„ Othou man renued in the knowledg of God after the image of him that created thee thou liuing soule of so much coÌ„tinency thou tongue of the flying fowles speaking such mysteries for to such creatures is this foode due what
Psal 74. 16 a Nec herbam tuam spernas sitilentem â—his he translates Nor despise thou this withering grasse of thine which thirsteth for the dew of thy Grace Whereas St. Austen still followes this conceie of the forrest and Harts with all alluding to Psa 42. 1 Mat. 6. 33 Col. 2. 3. * Though in Plautus time the Hebrew were the vulgar language of Affrica and that there bee 6. or 7. Hebrew words still to be found in St. AusteÌ„s works yet in those 600. yeeres betwixt Plautus S. Austen and by the Romanes enforcing the Prouinces to learne Latine we see the Hebrew so disused and corrupted in Affrica that at the most the 2 tongues did but agree in most words as Austen sayes l. 2. contra Petilliter c. 104. which agreemeÌ„nt yet was not so much that the natiues of Affrica could naturally vnderstand Hebrew The other Translater rather abuses St. Austen then credits him in affirming him to haue skill in Hebrew Mat. 3. 17. Iohn 8. 25. Iohn 3â— 29 Psal 30. Psal 102 Psal 103. 4 5. Rom. 8. 28 Psal 104 â—4 a See Chap 10. b I read it Creator not Creatorem and lay this sentence into the following putting a Colon in stead of a Period Psal 101. 27 Psala 7. a This hee translates There was therefore no time wherein thou madest not 〈◊〉 I reade it Prasentiantur as the margent of one printed copie directs me not prasententur We haue Prasensio a fewe lines after a Signes Causes or fore-conceptions as before hee sayd Math 7. 1. a This hee translates And my labor is apparent to thee Psal 73 16 psal 116. 10 a I reade it breues in stead of veteres for that is neerer the sence of Psal 39. 5. which the Latine copies referre vs to in their margents a Gen 1. 14 This hee translates There are also Starres and lights in signes in seasons and in yeeres c a The Sun though Sommalius copie reades it ligneolae as if he meant the Potters wheele Iosua 11. Psal 18. 28. * Metimur spacia carminumspa cijs versuum I suppose that Carnen here signifies the seuerall Stanzaes or Staues of a poem rather then the whole poem for a staffe consisting of so many verses of seuerall kinds was then by measure acknowledged a true staffe when it had the compleate number variety and order of verses as an Hexameter verse was by measure found true when his seete were of their due kind number and order a Distensionem and so in the next Chapter Tendebatur in spacium Psal 100. 3 a I reade it quâ in steade of quam b Quantum excercitato sensui creditur So I reade it and not Sensu * Hee meanes that a verse or speech repeated in silence takes vp as much time as if it were pronounced â—o that though silence be not measured by long and short syllables as words are yet it takes vp Time So that t is not motion onely that makes time The other Translater hath done it other-wise which I leaue to censure a Quod noâ—i That I haue by heart saies the other translater which quite matreth the sense seeing he speakes nâ—t â—iâ—l afterward of the taking â— into 〈…〉 Psal 63. 3. a St. Austen loues to play with the word which oft-times makes him hard to translate and most commonly loses the conceit Phil. 3. 13 a Consequentia which are not ill habits and customes of sinne as the other Translater notes Psal 146. 4 Here doeth the other Translater as his manner is helpe out a false translation with a marginal note In his Title hee makes the Scriptures difficult in stead of the Truth Mat. 7. 7. Psa 115 16 a Or inuisible Gen. 1. 2. A great part of this booke is discourse a the manner of the creation of the world * Here Sommalius edition reads it better then others Neque enim in locis Itaeque cu domine c. In stead of Ista tu without a period at locis a Because at the first creation it had no forme nor thing in it Psa 115. 16 a The other Translater cals this The Imperiall heauen The man would or should haue sayd The Empyreall b Of Mosâ—â— a This shewes that by this creature he ment the Heauen of heauens whereas the other Translater in 4 marginall notes thinkes he meant the Angels b This phrase being in the ninth chapter applyed to the Heauen of heauens she Angels creature * Chap. 9 he calls is An intellectuall And so Chap. 13. Psal 42. 3. Psal 27. 4. Psa 102. 27 a Domus This the other Translater twice or thrice turnes Family and all to countenance his fancy of the Angels The Angels as t is thoght were created together with his heaueÌ„ but yet they are not this heauen for St Austen calles them Citizens of it Mat. 7. 7. a The Heauen of heauens he meanes Gen 1. 2. a Out of which earth without shape and voyd which is the Materia prima b Hee meanes that though the Heauen of heauens and the first matter of the shapelesse earth were created without time that is in the beginning of time eyther the first day or before it yet euery thing else is mentioned to be created in time and vpon such dayes because they were to bee subiect to time and change from which hee exempts the former two 1 Cor. 13 12 a He confirmes his Iudgement by two arguments * Here fals my papist out with fawcy and simple women as he stiles them for daring to reade the Scriptures without licence because they be hard But does the Popes licence make them the easier If none should read but such as vnderstand the St Austen had beene barred I wish our women would read more and interpret lesse They must read more that they may vnderstand not all but something But if our women haue too much I am sure yours haue too little reading Psa S 48. 6 a Iesus Christ b Pet. Lombard lib. sent 2. dist 2. affirmes that by Wisedome Eccles 1. 4. the Angels be vnderstood and the whole spirituall intellectuall nature namely this highest heauen in which the Angels were created and it by them instantly filled 2 Cor. 5. 22 Psal 26. 8. Psal 119. 176. Luk. 15. 5. * This Top of Authority my papist notes to be The authority of the Church He should haue done well to haue made sence of it then for I alwayes looke not for Reason from him To place the Scriptures in the authority of the Church what can he make of that St. Austen giues the Scriptures the top of Authority and this Top is higher then the Church Such marginall notes haue too often creptin to the Text and corrupted the Fathers by it 2 Tim. 2. 14 1 Tim. 18. 5. Ma. 22. 40 a To God a The 2 last of the former Chapter That which followes is the Confirmation of the Argument a Creab le formabile He begins to answere their obiections Col. 1.